


Cherry's Adventures of Hercules

by PerkyGoth14



Category: Hercules (1997)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-06
Updated: 2015-10-09
Packaged: 2018-05-06 06:40:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 14
Words: 23,638
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5406854
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PerkyGoth14/pseuds/PerkyGoth14
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cherry and Atticus are on a boring school field trip. However, history and mythology literally come to life when they are suddenly joined in the myth of Hercules and must help him become a true hero in order to return home to Mount Olympus to live as the god he was born to be while Hades tries to rid the world of him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

There was a rather dull school field trip day to the museum. It sounded exciting and all, but it was kind of boring. Cherry and Atticus followed their class, but had a hard time keeping up.

Cherry yawned heavily, she just wanted to sit down a while and take a nap. "Man... This is the most boring field trip I've ever been on..." she murmured.

"For once, I agree with you, Cherry, this museum is boring, I wish that it could be more exciting like actually being with in history itself." Atticus added in.

"Yeah..." Cherry sounded very sleepy.

The teacher took them through the Greek exhibit which Cherry was looking forward to since she liked mythology, but even the teacher seemed to make this seem boring and pointless. The other students seemed to wander off from this boring field trip as they followed their instructor.

"Long ago, in the land of Ancient Greece," the teacher narrated, very slowly and dully. Not even the awesome pieces of art in the section of the museum could entertain the girls. "There was a golden age of powerful Gods and extraordinary heroes. The greatest and the strongest of all these heroes was the mighty Hercules."

"Wow, that name makes the guy sound like he was incredibly strong." Atticus said, flexing muscles that he had.

"He was..." Cherry slowly shut her eyes and opened them again as quickly as she could so she wouldn't nod off. She hid a laugh at Atticus though. Yes, he was strong, but he wasn't that strong.

"But what is the measure of a true hero?" the teacher continued to lecture, not noticing the kids sneaking away from the trip while the class kept following him. "Now, that is what our story-"

"Would you listen to him?" a female voice from the Greek exhibit called. "He's making the story sound like some Greek tragedy!"

"Lighten up, dude." another one added.

"We'll take it from here, darling..." yet another one said.

Cherry rubbed her eyes, removing her glasses. "I must be more bored than I thought."

"Same here." Atticus said, rubbing his eyes.

"What's going on?" Cherry placed her glasses back on, but her mind wasn't playing tricks on her, it was really happening. "Is this really happening or have I been watching Night at the Museum too many times?"

"We are the Muses," one of the women, seeming to be in charge, told them. "Goddesses of the arts and proclaimers of the heroes. I'm Calliope, the muse of epic poetry, and these are Clio, the muse of history," she pointed to the one with the ponytail, "That's Thalia, the muse of comedy," she pointed to the short, chubby one, and this is Terpsichore, the muse of the dance, and finally, that's Melpomene, the muse of tragedy."

"Heroes like Hercules." Melpomene fanned herself.

"Honey, you mean Hunkules!" Thalia shimmied with an eager smile. She then dashed to a picture of the god of a man to show the girls. "Ooh, I'd like to make some sweet music with him!"

"Seems like she really likes guys that had muscles." Atticus said.

"OUR story..." Melpomene stopped her, then smiled at the visitors of the museum. "Actually begins long before Hercules, many eons ago..." the Muses them bounced out of the picture and danced around the exhibit while Cherry and Atticus's class seemed to had been gone nowhere, possibly in another part of the museum. The Muses started showing them a lot about Greek mythology with pictures coming to life as well.

Cherry and Atticus found this to be a lot more exciting and educational as they were being taught about the Gospel Truth about Zeus and many other Greek gods and goddesses at the time.

'Wow, this is amazing.' Atticus thought to himself.

The Muses sang to them and made this more epic than they could ever hope for and then suddenly, there was a flash of bright light. Cherry and Atticus flinched from the light and closed their eyes.

When they opened their eyes, they were surrounded by clouds all of a sudden.

"Did we just die?" Cherry asked, noticing the clouds.

"I don't know, I don't think we're dead." Atticus answered.

"I don't understand though..." Cherry shrugged, then thought about what the Muses told them. "Maybe we're in Mount Olympus?"

"Yeah, but how is that possible?" Atticus asked.

Cherry shrugged. "What do you wanna do now?"

Atticus shrugged back. "Explore?"

Cherry and Atticus tried to explore and they finally came across a golden gate that was shut. There were many Gods and Goddesses around for some sort of celebration. There was a god with a helmet, sunglasses, and winged shoes floating around.

"There's Hermes the messenger god." Cherry recognized.

"Wow, he looks cool with those sunglasses on." Atticus said.

Hermes kept flying, he then noticed the two and floated over to them. "What are two mortals doing in Mount Olympus?"

"Uhh... We actually don't know..." Cherry replied.

"Hm..." Hermes studied them. "Well, I suppose you could come in, just please don't make too much of a mess... We're celebrating the birth of the child born from Zeus and Hera."

"We won't make any mess." Atticus promised.

"Come on, you can congratulate them." Hermes floated in with the crowd while Cherry and Atticus made their way to meet the God couple and their new son. "I have some news to tell the God and Goddess anyway."

Cherry and Atticus followed, looking to the various Gods and Goddesses, trying to contain any excitement they may have had.

'This is absolutely amazing!' Atticus thought to himself excitedly.

The Gods and Goddesses glanced at them.

"It's okay, guys, they're special guests." Hermes told them.

"H-Hello." Atticus waved at the gods and godesses, nervously.

"We come in peace..." Cherry added.

The Gods and Goddesses weren't sure what to make of them, but gave friendly smiles. Zeus and Hera welcomed the mortal children and allowed them and they allowed them to meet their son.

"Is it a boy or a girl?" Cherry asked.

"A boy." Zeus smiled proudly.

"What is his name?" Atticus asked.

"Hercules." Hera said with a smile.

Cherry and Atticus were allowed to see the baby who was glowing like the sun due to his god blood. Baby Hercules smiled a little to them and waved his pudgy arms to them.

"Hera, look at how cute he is," Zeus cooed and attempted to tickle his new son, then laughed as Hercules was able to lift his father up in the air by his finger. "He's strong like his father."

"Wow, I sure wish I was that strong." Atticus said.

"Maybe someday..." Cherry muttered.

Hercules eventually put his father down and looked to the two strangers who weren't of his blessed extended family.

Hermes came over with flowers for the baby and Hera smiled as she took them, he then flew over to Zeus. "Fabulous party, I haven't seen this much love in a room since Narcissus discovered himself." he then commented, pointing to one God who was looking himself in the mirror and adoring his good looks.

Hercules was then reaching for a lightning bolt to play with.

"Uh-Oh, um, excuse me, sir, but don't you think that it's dangerous for Hercules to be playing with your lightning bolts?" Atticus asked.

"He's right, you should keep those away from the baby." Hera added, warning her husband.

"Oh, he's only a child, let him have a little fun." Zeus insisted.

Hercules teethed on one of the bolts, but electrocuted himself, he didn't like it so he threw the bolt against a cloud pillar which was destroyed, but quickly regenerated itself.

Zeus laughed, seeming proud of that throw. "On behalf of my son, I'd like to thank you all for your wonderful gifts." he showed the pile of several presents and treasures from the other gods and goddesses.

'Wow, that's a lot of gifts.' Atticus thought to himself.

"Sorry we couldn't bring anything, sir." Cherry said.

"It's okay, thanks for coming, though how did you get here?" Zeus asked.

"I don't remember," Atticus shrugged. "We were in a museum and suddenly we came here."

"You came on a special day that's for sure, even if you don't have a gift." Zeus said to them.

"What about our gift, dear?" Hera asked, sounding excited.

"Let's see," Zeus rubbed his chin, then took some clouds together to form something, much to his infant son's confusion. "A touch of cirrus, a pinch of nimbostratus, and a dash of cumulonimbus..." He then handed the cloud formations to Hercules which looked like a foal with wings on it.

"No way, an actual real life pegasus foal." Atticus said.

"Say, that's a good name for him," Zeus smiled as he let the foal go to Hercules, becoming attached like an earth boy and his dog. "His name is Pegasus, and he's all yours, son."

Hercules held Pegasus and bonked their heads against each other. The foal got dizzy and shook his head, then licked Hercules's face. Hercules almost looked like he was about to cry, but the pony and baby shared a fond, friendly hug, and everyone looked in awe.

Zeus was so happy and wrapped a medallion around the chubby neck of the baby. He tucked Hercules in happily and kissed his cheek with a tender, fatherly smile. "My boy, my little Hercules..."

"How sentimental..." a dry voice spoke up.

"Who said that?" Atticus asked.

They all turned and saw a deathly figure.

"Hades..." Cherry whispered.

"Ya know, I haven't been choked up since I got a hunk of moussaka stuck in my throat!" Hades came into view and had a wicked smile in hopes people would get that that was supposed to be a joke. "Huh?"

Everyone was just silent, not finding what he just said as a joke. Hades muttered to himelf and walked through the crowd who obviously wanted nothing to do with him or have him there. He came to the bassinet though to meet his nephew.

"So, Hades, how are things in the Underworld?" Zeus asked, putting his arm tight around the deathly god that is his brother.

"Oh, ya know, a little dark and gloomy," Hades moved his hand from around him. "Full of dead people. But hey, whatya gonna do?" he noticed the two mortals. "Who are these two delicious morsels?" he asked, sounding like he wanted to eat Cherry and Atticus.

"My name is Atticus James Fudo and this is my friend, Cherry Butler." Atticus introduced.

"I see..." Hades still sounded eager, he was about to make a move, but he then noticed the bassinet again, very anxious. "So, here's the little sun spot. Little smooshy-smooshy... And here is a sucker for the little sucker! Here ya go!" he took out a stick with a poisonous skull over it.

Hercules grabbed Hades's finger tightly.

Hades grunted in pain and pulled his finger away which made Pegasus laugh at him. "Yeesh, powerful little tyke..."

"Come on, Hades, don't be such a stiff," Zeus put his arm around the blue guy again. "Join the celebration!"

"Yeah, well, I would, unlike YOU guys up here," Hades slithered away. "I have a full-time gig. Ya know, that YOU gave me, Zeus. Love to, but can't."

Zeus watched Hades walk away, looking a little glum for him. "You've got to slow down, you'll work yourself to death," he then noticed he had made a joke in there. "Ha! Work yourself to death!"

All of the gods and goddesses, along with Atticus and Cherry started to laugh.

Zeus kept laughing and sat in his throne, pounding the arm. "I kill myself!"

"If only... If only..." Hades growled under his breath as he left in the darkness.

"Oh, sir, that joke was absolutely priceless." Atticus said as soon as he calmed down.

"Why, thank you." Zeus chuckled still a little.

"Yeah, good one." Cherry even agreed.

"Since you kids have nowhere else to go for now, why don't you stay with us and help look after Hercules?" Hera offered.

"If you don't mind." Cherry looked up at her.

"Not at all, we'll make up a little space for you two." Hera smiled, then walked off to attend to the party.

"Thank you." Atticus bowed politely.

During the party, Hera made up a little guest room for their two mortal guests. Zeus introduced the mortal kids to the other Gods and Goddesses, in which they knew most of them due to mythology lessons from school. He just assumed they knew them because they were mortals and around this time, Gods and Goddesses were a big deal and often picked on mortals in popular myths which were true in this universe.


	2. Chapter 2

Soon the party died down and the chariot was making it night time. 

"You two will sleep in here for the night." Hera told them as she carried Hercules to bring him to his room for bed with Pegasus.

"Thank you again, ma'am." Atticus said politely.

Cherry yawned, but showed her appreciation and thanks.

"Good night, now..." Hera smiled as she carried her baby to bed.

Cherry took one bed while Atticus took the other. "I guess we got a new life here..." she said as she pulled back the covers and crawled into the bed.

"Yeah, I guess, but I do I feel like we were actually sent here for a reason?" Atticus asked.

"I'm sure we were..." Cherry shrugged, but let out a yawn. "Well, maybe we'll fidn out in the morning... I wonder if we'll get to have any ambrosia."

"What's that?" Atticus asked.

"It's this food the gods ate, a lot of people believed that it would give them immortality since the gods ate it." Cherry said before falling asleep from the spontaneous fun at the party.

"Cool, maybe we'll try some." Atticus said before falling asleep himself.

It was a rather peaceful night. Everyone was sleeping soundly, until there was a clanging heard in a room. Atticus woke up instantly, Cherry did too, but it took her a little longer to properly respond.

"What was that noise?" Cherry yawned.

"It sounds like it came from Hercules's bedroom." Atticus said.

Cherry and Atticus then came to the room, followed by the demigod's parents.

Pegasus had a toy stuck on his head and struggled to get it off, once he did, they all looked and saw Hercules's bed was turned over and he was nowhere to be found.

"HERCULES!" Hera cried for her only son as he was now gone. "Oh, no!"

Zeus was so angry and unahppy, he yelled out as lightning flashed to illuminate his now bad mood.

"Who could have kidnapped him?" Atticus asked, not understanding who would be so heartless. "Who would even want to kidnap Hercules?" 

"I don't know..." Zeus sighed. "We can't just stand here though... HERMES!"

The messenger god flew over in a rush. "Yes, sir?" he asked, ready to work, though he sounded sleepy still.

"Assemble all the gods to organize a search party." Zeus told him. 

"Maybe there's something we could do?" Cherry offered, volunteering her and Atticus. 

"Perhaps they could look on Earth for our son?" Hera suggested to Zeus for them to help.

"Yeah." Atticus nodded.

"If you think you're up for it..." Zeus said softly.

"It would be an honor." Atticus promised.

"Well... Okay," Zeus agreed to it. "Thank you so much... You shall be gratefully rewarded."

"Oh, really, it's no trouble." Cherry waved her hand a little.

"No really, we insist." Hera said with a smile.

"What would you give us?" Atticus asked.

"I'll think about it, but for now, you must get going..." Zeus said to them.

Cherry and Atticus nodded. Zeus then transported them back to Earth and they were in Ancient Greece, though it was after dark and they didn't have much light. 

"I wish I was a vampire so then I could see a little bit better..." Cherry said as she tried to look around. 

There were two voices heard, but then those voices screamed followed by a crash and a baby cry.

Cherry heard the baby cry, having a natural hearing sense in that due to being a girl and rushed over to it. "Follow me!"

"Lead the way, Cherry!" Atticus called out as he followed her.

Cherry listened closely and looked around, then found Baby Hercules. He seemed different somehow, but she carried him as he cried and looked rather unhappy. "Now, what happened to you?" she looked around for anyone suspicious.

There were two new voices heard and there was a light coming. A man and a woman. 

"Oh, you poor thing..." the woman cooed to the baby. "Is he your baby brother?" she asked Cherry.

"Uhh..." Cherry wasn't sure how to answer that question.

"Y-Yes, ma'am, he's our baby brother, w-we're orphans." Atticus lied.

"Yeah!" Cherry quickly agreed.

"Anybody there?" the man looked around for any adults since these kids were without adult supervision. "You must've been abandoned..." he then sounded sad for them. 

"Hello, I'm Amphitryon and this is my wife, Alcmene," the man introduced. "You three must be looking for homes..."

"Amphitryon, for so many years we've prayed to the Gods to bless us with children," Alcmene smiled fondly at the baby and the two kids. "Maybe they've answered our prayers."

"I guess they have..." Amphitryon smiled, then looked at the baby boy's medallion. "Would you like to live with us?" he asked the kids.

"Yes please, sir." Atticus said politely.

They all smiled to each other until a couple of snakes came up behind them. The couple was frightened and worried what was going to happen to all of them now. Hercules grabbed the snakes though and sat on the ground, he was hitting their heads against the ground, tied them together, and he had spun them around and made them fly in the air. Alcmene and Amphityron were so shocked, they didn't know what to say or do to that, but at least they were safe. Hercules giggled, waving to the snakes and smiled at his new parents innocently.

"Um, yeah, our baby brother Hercules is incredibly strong, like god strength strong." Atticus smiled nervously.

"Interesting..." Alcmene wondered what that could mean.

The mortal kids then followed Alcmeme and Amphitryon to their home. They were going to be raised by the couple for a while. The couple was glad to finally have the children they had always wanted, they loved the kids, but Hercules was a little bit of a problem sometimes with his strength. The other kids around his age always treated him differently and almost never treated him like a living person and rarely invited him over to play their games. But luckily for him, he had Atticus and Cherry to be there for him as his friends.


	3. Chapter 3

Thirteen years passed, Hercules had grown to that age, but it seemed as though Cherry and Atticus were unaffected by the time passing. There were sheep grazing innocently, then there came teenager Hercules pulling the giant cart with straw, the girls, Amphityron, and a donkey who had a blue hood on nearly like a Russian scarf. 

"HERCULES, SLOW DOWN!" Amphityron yelled during the wild ride.

"Wahoo!" Atticus cheered, enjoying the wild ride.

Cherry looked like she was going to be sick however. Hercules kept running and ran into a few men who were working on an entrance into the market area. The straw hit the men and Hercules quickly apologized as they kept moving. Several people tried to dodge and get out-of-the-way and shook once Hercules had come in. He had a bit of a bad reputation with his super god strength in the town.

'Oh, come on.' Atticus thought to himself after seeing the crowd's faces.

Amphityron hopped out and held the distressed donkey's leg. "Thanks for the help, son. Well, when Penelope twisted her ankle back there, I thought we were done for." he gently took Penelope out to safety.

"No problem, Pop." Hercules smiled as he took the hay with one arm.

"Don't unload just yet," Amphityron told the boy. "First, I have to finagle with Phidias."

"Oh, that's right." Atticus said, just remembering that while sitting down on the cart.

Hercules nodded to that too and put the hay back as Cherry climbed down to take a breath, but the heavy hay made their mule fly up in the air. "Sorry, Penelope!"

"Now, Hercules, please just--" Amphityron looked uneasy as he was trying to spare his foster son's feelings.

"I know, I know..." Hercules sighed, he then caught Penelope back in his arms and set her back in place. "Stay by the cart."

"That's my boy," Amphityron smiled while going off. "Cherry, Atticus, keep an eye on him."

"Yes, sir, we will." Atticus saluted.

The man then went off. They then heard some trouble by the pottery place. Hercules decided to help the owner out as he was carrying a heavy vase.

"Hey, get back here!" Cherry told him.

"You know he can't help it of when he wants to help someone." Atticus said.

"You know what Amphityron said!" Cherry reminded.

"Yes, I know, so let's go with him and make sure nothing bad happens." Atticus said.

Cherry sighed. "No one listens to me..." she muttered, she hopped off the cart and followed.

There were small crashes heard as the man known as Demetrius was having trouble with his heavy and sight blocking pottery.

"Careful!" Hercules rushed to his aid.

"Oh," Demetrius laughed, looking relieved. "Why, thank you."

"No problem." Hercules smiled to him.

"Here, let me help you with that." Hercules offered.

"No, no, no!" Demetrius shook his head and held the vase close to avoid getting smashed like the others. "You just run along!"

"You sure, sir?" Atticus asked.

"Oh, yeah, absolutely." Demetrius nodded and quickly ushered them out back outside.

"But, I wanted to help..." Hercules sadly sighed.

"Hey, it'll be okay, don't worry..." Cherry soothed.

Suddenly, there was a flying discus in the air that landed by their feet.

"Yo, give it here!" a boy called, but then he stopped with his friends once he saw who was where their toy was.

"Hey, you three need some extra players?" Atticus asked.

One of the boys shoved the blonde one over. He looked back anxiously, then smiled nervously. "Uh... Sorry, guys... Uh, we already got five... and we wanna keep it an even number."

"Wait," Hercules saw right through that. "Five isn't an even-"

The boy grabbed the discus and ran off with the others. "What a bunch of geeks!"

"What losers, huh, guys?" the other one asked.

"Hey, maybe we should call that strong one 'Jerkules'." the blonde boy snickered with his other friends.

Hercules looked hurt, then furrowed his brows at them. He then slumped down on a stone, feeling so down about himself because of what his peers thought.

"Hey, don't let them get you down, Herc, those guys are just jerks." Atticus soothed him.

"Yeah, they're bullies, you don't need them." Cherry added.

Hercules sighed, still feeling down on his luck.

"Head's up!" a voice called.

Hercules saw the discus coming back his way and he decided to try to catch it. "I got it, I got it!"

"No, Hercules! Watch out for the pillar!" Atticus called out.

Hercules looked over and he had run into it by accident.

This made the pillar shake a little and was about to hit the next ones after it.

"Uh-oh..." Hercules muttered in misfortune. He then tried to hold them steady so they wouldn't come crumbling down.

"Hercules!" Amphityron called.

"Hang on, Pop!" Hercules dashed past him to save the town's stores. "Be right back!"

Demetrius was now holding four vases. He panicked since one of the falling pillars was coming for him and the delicate items from his store. He looked to see another pillar coming for him. He cried, then squeezed his eyes shut, then felt relieved once the pillars stopped each other and didn't come down on him. He was very relieved until Hercules rushed over, slipped and slid toward him causing a huge crash. The whole town was covered in dust and it looked very miserable to see all the destruction. The townspeople crowded over.

"This did not end well." Atticus said.

"Nice catch, Jerkules..." the blonde teen swiped the discus from the formerly immortal teen and stormed off in sheer disgust.

Amphityron was a little unhappy that Hercules, Cherry, and Atticus didn't stay by the cart, but he was just glad they were all okay.

"This... Is the last STRAW, Amphityron!" Demetrius snapped, getting the vase off his head and smashed it against the ground. 

"That boy is a menace!" one man pointed to Hercules.

"He's too dangerous to be around normal people!" another one added.

Amphityron decided to take the others home as the townspeople were insulted to be around Hercules. "He didn't mean any harm. He's only a kid... He just...can't control his strength."

"It's true." Atticus added in honestly.

"Everybody's different..." Cherry tried to help.

"You keep that... that... FREAK away from me!" Demetrius pointed deathly at Hercules.

The other people agreed with considering Hercules to be a freak. Everyone that went home after the destroyed remains of the town. This was a painful day for everyone, but the most pain was heaved on the one who caused it all and wasn't hurt by his destruction. Sunset came as Hercules was hanging his head. Of all the days he's lived and been taken in by the mortal couple, this had to be the absolute worse.

"Son, you shouldn't let what these people say get to you." Amphityron tried to console the boy.

"But, Pop, they're right! I am a freak!" Hercules protested. "I try fitting in, I really do! But, I just can't... Sometimes I feel like I don't belong here...I-I feel like I should be someplace else."

"I know that feel." Cherry said as she was washing dishes with Alcmene.

'I shouldn't have let Hercules leave the cart.' Atticus thought to himself.

Amiphtyron tried to comfort Hercules, but it was no use, he was now going out to think.

"Dear, I think we should tell him..." Alcmene suggested. 

"You're probably right..." Amiphtyron sighed.

"You mean that he's adopted?" Cherry asked.

"Yes, it should make him feel better and he should go to the Temple of Zeus to find his answer." Alcmene replied.

"Me and Cherry will go with him, that way, he won't have to go alone." Atticus said.

"Thank you so much." Amphityron smiled to them. 

"Sure..." Cherry said after she finished washing the dishes. "I just hope he takes the news well."

"I'm sure he will or just be overwhelmed by the truth." Atticus said honestly.

"It can be pretty huge." Cherry agreed.

That night, Hercules came home to Amphityron and Alcmene. They were at the front door as though they had been expecting him to return.

"Hercules, there's something your mother and I have been meaning to tell you." Amphityron spoke up.

"Cherry and Atticus are going to help us explain too." Alcmene added. 

Hercules was a little nervous.

"You might wanna come inside and have a seat." Atticus said.

They all sat down and the mortals explained to Hercules what they had been hiding from him nearly all his life.

"But, if you found me, where did I come from?" Hercules asked.

"This was around your neck when we found you." Alcmene took out the medallion with his name on it.

Hercules took it and looked to see a thunderstorm cloud with a lightning bolt on it with his name glimmering on the other side.

"It's the symbol of the gods." Atticus explained about the symbol in the front.

"It's also a sign for you to go to the Temple of Zeus." Cherry added.

"This is it!" Hercules beamed. "Don't you see? Maybe they have the answers! I'll go to the Temple of Zeus and-" he stopped himself and looked back at his adoptive parents. Even though they weren't his real parents, they still felt like it since they took him in as their own. "Ma, Pop... You're the greatest parents I could ask for, but... I-I dunno..."

"We're going with you, we'll leave around morning." Cherry said to him.

"Yeah, that way we'll get a fresh start on the journey." Atticus added.

Everyone went to rest that evening. They decided Hercules, Cherry, and Atticus needed all their rest and strength to find the Temple of Zeus.


	4. Chapter 4

The next morning, bright and early, the young group went away to get going. They waved goodbye to Amphityron and Alcmene one last time and set their journey. They went through a canyon, went through a field, Hercules knocked over a tree and made a bridge for them to cross, came through the woods and dodged a thunderstorm. After the long adventure, the sky got dark. Hercules, Cherry, and Atticus made it to the temple. They then decided to quickly head inside and meet the figure of Zeus. Hercules just hoped this trip would be worth it and he would finally be happy with himself.

"Well, this is it..." Cherry whispered to Atticus.

"Yep, it sure has been quite a while since we've seen him." Atticus whispered back to her.

"You guys coming?" Hercules called as he had gone ahead.

Cherry and Atticus noticed they were left behind, so they went with him.

"Mighty Zeus," Hercules spoke up, looking at the statue of the mighty god of Mount Olympus. "Please hear me and answer my question. Who am I? Where do I belong?"

Suddenly, there came a breeze of the wind. Hercules looked around him and suddenly the torches were lit with fire and the statue came to life. Zeus was in his statue form, but he was the God on the inside now. His eyes opened and he smiled as he looked down at the teen with a bright, fatherly smile. "My boy, my little Hercules." his hand came down to hold the boy.

Hercules freaked out, then started to run away.

"No, wait, Hercules, stop!" Atticus called out to him while the demigod boy was running away.

"Hold on, kid, where's your hurry?" Zeus reached for the boy and held him in his ginormous hands for the first time in years. "Is this the greeting you give your father after all these years?"

Hercules's head popped out in surprise. "F-F-Father?"

"Didn't know you had a famous father, did you?" Zeus laughed as he held Hercules, now standing in his palm. "SURPRISE! Look how you've grown," Zeus was very happy for this moment. "You have your mother's eyes and my strong chin..."

"Yep, he sure does, sir, he sure has grown into quite a guy!" Atticus called up to the god statue.

"You have looked after him very well..." Zeus smiled to Cherry and Atticus as he carried Hercules in his hand.

"It was our pleasure..." Cherry said softly.

"Wait," Hercules stopped to think. "If you're my father that would make me a..."

"A god." Zeus finished for him.

"Wouldn't you guys be gods too?" Hercules asked, he did not know that they actually weren't his siblings.

"Well, yes, but we're not, because we're not your real brother and sister." Atticus said.

"What...?" Hercules asked.

"It's a bit of a long story." Cherry added.

"I trusted them to help look for you and help you understand your destiny." Zeus told Hercules. 

Hercules was still shocked to discover he was a god and even fell in Zeus's large hand.

"Please, don't fall over this time," Zeus kept him from fainting. "You wanted the answers, now you got them."

"Yeah." Atticus added.

"But, why did you leave me here on Earth?" Hercules asked the statue. "Didn't you want me?"

"Of course we did," Zeus sounded sorrow, never forgetting the day the boy was taken from him and Hera. "Your mother and I loved you with all our hearts, but some vandals stole you away and made you mortal. Mount Olympus doesn't allow mortals."

"Then how did we get in?" Cherry asked.

"That is a question we have not found the answer for yet, but I trust you to still help my son to prove him worthy of the Olympian gates and you two will be rewarded." Zeus told the mortal children. 

"So, there's nothing you can do?" Hercules sighed to his father.

"I can't, but you can." Zeus told him.

"Really? What is it?" Hercules brightened up. "I'll do anything!"

"Hercules, if you can prove yourself to be a true hero, your immortal-ship will be restored!" Zeus said.

"That's perfect!" Atticus cheered, happy to know there was a way for Hercules.

"A true hero, I like that!" Hercules praised, then grew low again. "Uhh... How do you become a true hero?"

"First, you must seek out Philetes, the trainer of heroes." Zeus advised.

"Seek out, Philetes, got it! I'll just--WHOA!" Hercules nearly fell from his father's hand.

"Hold your horses, son!" Zeus laughed, picking the boy back from falling any further. "Which reminds me..." he then whistled as loud as he could.

There came a shooting star which formed into a familiar horse with wings.

"I didn't think Pegasi were real..." Cherry whispered, then gave a shrug. "Well, I guess some legends are true... I wonder if there are any other real Pegasi in the world."

"Oh, I have a feeling you'll meet more someday." Zeus chuckled.

"Really? Well, when that day comes, we'll be surprised." Atticus said.

"Cna't you tell us when?" Cherry added.

"I don't want to spoil anything." Zeus laughed.

The shooting star became the white horse with the blue mane and of course, the wings. 

"You probably don't remember Pegasus, but you and him go way back, son." Zeus explained.

Pegasus landed in front of Hercules, who was now on the floor with the kids. The horse grabbed Hercules with his hooves and bonked each other on the head like when the boy was a baby.

Hercules laughed, then instantly remembered as he hugged the horse. "Oh, Pegasus!"

"He's a magnificent horse with nerves of steel," Zeus explained as Pegasus posed to look heroic and had his wings over his head. "And the brain of a bird."

Pegasus snorted, then did a bird call, feeling confused with himself.

"I don't know either, boy." Atticus said to Pegasus.

Hercules came up on Pegasus to ride him and he was going to find Philetes. "I can do this!" he cheered for himself, then looked to Cherry and Atticus. "You guys coming?"

Cherry backed up suddenly. "I... I'm not good with heights..."

"I'm coming and Cherry, you don't have to look down, that way you won't be so scared." Atticus said.

"That just makes me want to look down..." Cherry looked at him.

"Haven't you ever heard of a blindfold?" Atticus asked her.

"You got one?" Cherry folded her arms.

Atticus took one out and tied it around her eyes, taking her hand and helping her onto Pegasus.

"Okay, let's go!" Hercules called once they were secure.

Pegasus then sprouted his wings and went off with them in a flight pattern.

"I won't let you down, Father!" Hercules promised as they flew off.

"Good luck, son..." Zeus whispered as he turned back into statue mode.

What the group didn't know, was that the planets were starting to align, but slowly.

"This is so awesome!" Atticus cheered.

Cherry sounded sick, but at least she couldn't worry about falling by looking down since the blindfold was tight and secure.


	5. Chapter 5

It was foggy as the group went with Pegasus to find out the mysterious one known as Philetes. There were goat bleats heard, but no one saw a goat. There were three beautiful girls relaxing in their little tropical atmosphere with no disturbances.

"You sure this is the right place?" Hercules asked his horse.

Pegasus nodded and gestured for the kids to go with him. They all explored and found a goat's backside with the bleats heard as it was stuck in the hedges.

The group did as told and they followed the goat cries. They found a goat who appeared to be stuck in a grassy hedge. "What's the matter, little fella? You're stuck?" Hercules pulled the goat out, but it was revealed to be goat legs attached to a plump man, though he had horns and a beard like a goat.

"Um, Herc, I don't think that's a goat." Atticus said.

"That's a satyr." Cherry added, knowing what this strange creature was.

"Whoa! Hey, butt out, buddy!" the satyr growled at Hercules.

The sprite girls spotted him and screamed as they started to run away. One girl turned into a flower lei like from Hawaii, one vanished by the pond and one of the girls turned into a tree. The satyr had no luck capturing any of them. The satyr tried to get the tree one but she slapped him with her branch, sending him to the group.

"Ooh, that's gotta leave a mark." Atticus winced at the satyr's pain.

"What's the matter?" the creature growled. "Ya never seen a satyr before?"

"Maybe in Narnia..." Atticus muttered.

"That's a faun." Cherry corrected.

"Anyway, can you help us?" Hercules asked. "We're looking for someone named Philetes."

The satyr found a dish with grapes. He shook off the fruit and instead ate the bowl. "Call me Phil."

"Phil!" Hercules grew ecstatic and shook the satyr's human hand, nearly squeezing it.

'That's gotta hurt.' Atticus thought to himself as he winced at Phil's pain once again.

"Boy, am I glad to meet ya," Hercules was still thrilled over the satyr. "These are my friends, Cherry and Atticus, and I'm Hercules! And this is Pegasus."

The winged horse licked the satyr's face like a loyal dog.

"Animals, disgusting!" Phil grunted from the affectionate tongue.

"You're half animal half human." Atticus retorted.

"Touche." Phil said before walking towards a giant statue head.

"I need your help," Hercules followed them. "I wanna become a hero. A true hero."

"Sorry, kid, I can't help ya." Phil told them as he went to get a door. 

"And why not?" Cherry demanded.

"Two words!" Phil told him, taking the door back fix it. "I am retired!"

Hercules counted on his fingers, then shook his head at it. "Look, I've got to do this," he tried to convince the satyr. "Haven't you ever had a dream? Something you wanted to do so bad you'd do anything?"

Phil paused. He seemed to have been deeply touched by that and turned back gently at the group. "Kids, come inside, I wanna show you somethin'."

"Okay." Atticus said, following him.

Pegasus tried to join them, but had trouble and no avail. 

Hercules looked around with Cherry and Atticus. Cherry was having a geekgasm due to her vast interest in mythology. When she was a lot younger, it was Egyptian, but now she was settled for Greek. Hercules bonked his head and he rubbed his head, nearly wincing.

"Watch it!" Phil called. "That was the mast part of the Argo!"

"The Argo?" Hercules asked, sounding very interested and starstruck.

"Who ya think taught Jason how to sail, Cleopatra?" Phil scoffed as he showed them all around. "I trained all these would-be heroes. Odysseus, Perseus, Theseus... Lot of 'Yeseses'."

"Wow, did any of them go the distance?" Atticus asked.

"None of 'em..." Phil sighed, sounding sad and disappointed. "Every single one of those bums let me down," he then came to a statue of a famed hero. "And then there was Achilles, now there's a guy who had it all: The build, the speed, he can take a jab, he can take a hit, he can keep on coming!" He then told the story and flicked the heel of the statue which destroyed it instantly. "Yeah, I had a dream once," he showed a blue fabric with glittering stars showing a figure to the group. "So the great Gods would hang a picture of him up in the stars, all across the sky and people will say: That's Phil's boy. That's right..."

Hercules posed behind the fabric to look heroic. The kids were silent, unsure of how to react, but they respected Phil's dreams and wishes which seemed to take long to come true.

"Eh, dreams are for rookies," Phil scoffed, taking the fabric off, doubting himself now. "A guy can only take so much disappointment."

"But I'm different from those other guys, Phil!" Hercules argued. "I can go the distance! Come on, I'll show you!" he grabbed him by the horns to take him outside.

"He's telling you the truth, he really can." Atticus added in as he followed them.

"Watch this!" Hercules said. He then grabbed the end of the statue that seemed to have been the shield. He gestured for Atticus and Cherry to get out-of-the-way. They did, so he spun the shield and flung it away to go millions of miles away by strength.

"Holy, Hera..." Phil whispered to himself. "Ya know, maybe I could... No, no, no, no! Snap out of it! I'm too old to be going through this again!" he stormed off to go back inside.

"But if he doesn't become a true hero, he'll never be able to join his father, Zeus!" Cherry tried to reason with the satyr.

"Hold in," Phil spun on his hooves and pointed to Hercules. "Zeus is YOUR father, right?"

Hercules, Cherry, Atticus, and Pegasus nodded.

Phil started laughing out loud at this. "Zeus? The big guy, he's your daddy! Mr. Lightning Bolt!"

Atticus, Cherry, and Hercules could see that Phil didn't believe that the demigod boy really was the king of the god's son. The others glared at him for laughing, but he wouldn't stop.

"Wead me a book, would ya, Dada?" Phil laughed at the idea of Zeus having plain old guy for a son. "Zeus: ONCE UPON A TIME!" he kept taunting and laughing.

"It's the truth!" Cherry growled. 

"Puh-lease!" Phil glanced at them, then slid down the slope to his training ground.

"He's going to explain about all the heroes he's ever trained." Atticus groaned.

Phil felt like just giving up on training Hercules due to past experiences. "My answer is two words..."

Black clouds came up behind him and struck him with lightning.

Phil blinked from the impact, feeling that was Zeus to persuade him into going through with it. "Okay..." he replied weakly.

"Thank you, Zeus." Atticus smiled.

"You mean you'll do it?" Hercules grew excited with Pegasus.

"You win..." Phil groaned as he walked off. "Oh, Gods..." 

"So when do we start?" Cherry asked. "Can we start right now?"

"Yeah, can we start right now?" Atticus asked.

"Oy vey..." Phil groaned as he was going to get them started.

"Oh, come on, Phil, I'm sure it won't be that bad." Atticus said.

Phil rolled his eyes, but took them out to a field to get started. Cherry, Atticus, and Pegasus followed to help.

"Wow, this sure could use some cleaning, but we'll need some supplies." Atticus said.

"I'll do the lawn." Phil said as he went to get a trunk of gym equipment to whip Hercules into shape so he could a more muscle in his appearence and not just the strength he was born with.

"So where is the supplies AKA equipment we'll need anyways?" Atticus asked.

Phil took Atticus, Cherry, Pegasus, and Hercules to get the training started. Phil and Atticus were looking in an old box filled with weapons from the legends handed down back to him after he had trained them. Phil and Hercules brought it out and the others followed and an 11th place trophy came falling down with everything else.

The others were starting to clean up the field now so Hercules could properly train over it. Phil and some other goats cut the lawn like animate lawnmowers. After the spring cleaning, Hercules took out the bow and arrow for archery practice. Poor Phil got stuck to the arrow and hit the target instead of the arrow once Herc shot it.

"Ooh, that's gonna leave another mark on Phil." Atticus said.

"There goes my ulcer!" Phil groaned.

Night fell quickly as Hercules kept following Phil and Atticus's coaching. Cherry used measuring tape as Herc tried to make a muscle from the day's training, but wasn't close. Phil made him get down and do push-ups while Pegasus pounded the ground to count them. This training was going to take a very long time... But it was going to be worth it, as the years passed and the training and exercising would pay off.

The next morning, Hercules was now balancing an egg on a spoon in his mouth. He was walking across a rope while Cherry was on the other side to tally the results. Hercules fell from the rope and the egg landed on Phil's head. This made Pegasus lick up the splattered remains. The next journey for Hercules was to save a fake damsel in distress. This doll was at a burning stake.

"Rule number six, when rescuing a damsel, always handle with care." Phil coached. He then blew his whistle.

Hercules sprinted off to save the fake damsel in distress.

"Yes, you can do it, Herc!" Atticus cheered.

Hercules managed to free the dummy from her trap, but as he ran across the log, he nearly tripped and it broke. Phil and Pegasus grunted as Hercules and the doll plummeted into the water, but didn't drown.

After that, Phil and Atticus set up wooden targets and Hercules had to throw swords at them as they went on and off over and over again.

"Rule number 95, kid, concentrate." Phil coached again.

Hercules then threw the swords. He then covered his eyes sheepishly as he saw where they had landed and hit. Pegasus looked too, cringing slightly.

"Rule number 96!" Cherry called, having been stabbed against a tree with her legs spread out. "Aim!"

"Yikes, good thing it didn't stab her anywhere," Atticus said before showing Phil the fake damsel in distress. "So, are we going to use this one that looks like it's about to break or let Cherry be the fake damsel in distress?"

"What!?" Cherry called out.

"Hmm..." Phil scratched his chin. "That one looks damaged beyond repair... Interesting idea though."

"Thanks." Atticus said.

Cherry gave Atticus a glare. "Why me?"

"I don't know, it just came to me." Atticus shrugged.

Cherry rolled her eyes.

It was now winter time. Phil had a scarf with earmuffs and he had jackets for the kids. Cherry, however, was hanging by a rope while the others were on top of the mountain. Atticus was turning more pale than usual and his teeth were chattering. Hercules dashed down and went to save Cherry. He had managed the catch the girl, but they both ran into a rock. That wasn't too bad, but Cherry was in major pain after that.

"That's gonna leave a mark." Atticus winced.

After the snowy adventure, Hercules and the others were at the training ground. Hercules had to throw swords at the wooden targets again. This time, he aimed carefully away from the others, but he had missed the targets still. He was about to give up, but the one he threw without notice had hit the target as it was swinging. Hercules and the others cheered, Phil was very impressed and proud of the boy's skills.

In the sunset, Pegasus, Hercules, and Phil were doing karate poses.

"This makes me think of the original Karate Kid movies." Cherry commented.

"Yeah, this really does look like it would be from the original Karate Kid movies." Atticus said.

Phil shushed them. "You guys wanna get sued?"

Years passed, Hercules was now eighteen, but Cherry and Atticus were still unchanged. Hercules had also changed in another way by wearing different clothes and looked more like a true hero of a town that would be admired and idolized by all. 

Phil was measuring Hercules again. As the muscle bounded out, it had broken the tape, much to the satyr's delight. "NOW THAT'S MORE LIKE IT!"

"Wahoo!" Atticus cheered. "Now to the final test, ready, Cherry?!"

"Ready..." Cherry droned, sounding a little unenthusiastic.

Phil took the others to the most dangerous obstacle course there was. There was swinging over a rope, a giant structured fist pounding every other second, two dangerous sharks ready to bite at Hercules as soon as he would pass them, and more swings with a ring of fire with Cherry dangling from it. She looked more nervous than she had ever been in all her life. Hercules was a little nervous at first. He then went off while Atticus and Pegasus were nervous and Phil kept encouraging Hercules to go for it. No matter how suicidal it seemed. Pegasus was so nervous he was biting against his hooves.

Atticus began to pray for Hercules to survive the final test. Hercules dashed over to save Cherry from the trap. He swung over on the rope and he made it past the incoming pendulums which may have sliced him if he hadn't been careful. He then rose his own fist which beat the incoming crushing fist and had broken it. Hercules then pushed away the sharks before he could become their bait. He then jumped through the ring of fire and carried Cherry in his arms. 

Hercules had landed in the ground and saw training dummies about to shoot at him, but Hercules used his sword as a boomerang and threw it at their arrows and he used his shield to dodge them and make an H on it. He had managed to chop the dummies' heads off and grab his sword as it was now normal.

"YEAH!" Hercules cheered with Pegasus.

"Man, did you see that?" Hercules let go of Cherry, laughing and head-butted with Pegasus. "Whoo! Next stop: Olympus!" he then lifted the winged horse.

Pegasus made a fanfare sound effect.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, just take it easy, Herc, one step at a time." Atticus said.

"But I'm ready!" Herc told him, wrestling Pegasus to the ground. "I wanna get off this island, battle monsters, rescuing damsels, ya know, hero stuff!"

"Well..." Phil sounded uneasy.

"He has done a lot of training lately." Atticus told the satyr.

"Yeah, time he rescued a real damsel in distress." Cherry agreed.

"Aw, come on, Phil!" Hercules said.

Pegasus gave puppy eyes.

"Okay, fine," Phil grunted a bit. "You wanna road trip? Saddle up, we're going to Thebes!" he then joined the others on Pegasus to ride away.

Hercules then cheered.

"Hang on..." Cherry took out her blindfold before they would take off. "Okay, I'm ready now."

"Yeah, she still has a fear of heights." Atticus said.

"She's gotta get over that fear sometime." Phil said.


	6. Chapter 6

"So, what's in Thebes?" Hercules asked his new mentor.

"Lotta problems," Phil explained with a shrug. "It's a pretty good place to start off."

Suddenly, there was a scream heard.

"Sounds like your basic DID." Phil told Hercules.

"DID?" Cherry and Atticus asked.

"Damsel in DISTREEEEEEEEEEEEEESS!" Phil said explaining, then yelled as they went down quickly from the sky.

The group landed somewhere near a river and looked around to their new surroundings.

"Now that scream sounded like it came from around here." Atticus said.

The group wandered out the forest and looked between the bushes. They could see a young woman who was around the age of Hercules having trouble with some sort of horse human demonic creature. Cherry recognized the creature to her vast intelligence in mythology, especially mythological creatures.

"That's a centaur." she told Atticus. 

"Not so fast, sweetheart!" the centaur hissed, coming closer to the damsel. He then grabbed her, much to her unwillingness.

"I swear, Nessus," the woman scowled at him. "Put me down or I'll--" she kicked him and tried to make her escape.

The centaur, Nessus, came back for her and kept holding onto her. "Ooh, I like 'em fiery!"

"Okay, kid," Phil started to coach, unknowing that Hercules was already going to save the woman. "First you gotta analyze the situation. Don't just walk in without thinking and--"

Atticus tapped his shoulder and pointed to the walking demigod.

"HEY!" Phil growled. "He's losing points for this..."

"Well, he wants to save her from the centaur." Atticus said.

Hercules came up and used the best brave voice he could muster to the antagonizing centaur. "Halt!"

Nessus still held onto the girl and glanced at Hercules, unimpressed by his interruption and appearance. "Step aside, two legs!"

Hercules glanced back at him, then looked to the woman in trouble. He looked to the horse man creature and refused to be put down. "Pardon me, my uhh... Good sir! I'd like to ask you to let go of that young... Lady..."

"Keep moving, junior..." the woman glanced at him, unimpressed as well of his heroic antics.

Hercules looked at her and looked a little unsure of what was going on. "But... umm... Aren't you a damsel in distress?"

"I'm a damsel, I'm in distress, I can handle this," the woman nearly snapped, then had a cooled face. "Have a nice day."

Hercules looked still unsure. He was going to save this woman no matter what it took. "Ma'am, I'm afraid you're too close to the situation to realize--"

Nessus had punched Hercules, making him fall in the water and drop his sword.

"What are you doing!?" Phil growled. "GET YOUR SWORD!"

"Should we do something?" Atticus asked.

Cherry shrugged. "He wanted to be a hero."

"Yeah, but heroes also need help from time to time." Atticus said.

"Sword, right!" Hercules put his hand under the water to grab his weapon. "Rule number fifteen: A hero is only as good as his weapon!" However, when Hercules took out his weapon, he saw it wasn't his sword, but a fish. The fish screamed at the nasty centaur and jumped back into the water. Hercules was pounded again and sent flying against a rock.

Pegasus charged to help out his human best friend. Phil went and kept the winged horse from going to do so and held him back. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, hold it! Hold it! He's gotta do this on his own if he wants to be a true hero!"

"I hate it when you're right." Atticus groaned, really wanting to help his demigod friend.

Hercules came out from the water, still refusing to go down and let his training go to waste.

"Come on, Herc, concentrate!" Cherry called from the sidelines. "Use your head!"

Hercules had a thought before he did anything else. He heard Phil's words and took it as his next attack method. He then charged and butted his head against Nessus's chest to release the damsel in distress and sent the centaur flying and his horseshoes flew with him.

"Alright, not bad, kid! Not bad!" Phil cheered as the others clapped and cheered as well. "I don't think that was exactly what Cherry had in mind, but not bad..." he muttered to himself then.

The woman stood from the water, coughing a little and tried to straighten herself out. Hercules picked her up, even though she seemed like she didn't want it to be done.

"Sorry about that, that was dumb." Hercules apologized to the woman.

"Yeah..." the woman replied, flatly as she wrung her hair.

Hercules looked up to see Nessus coming back down. "Excuse me," he told the girl, then went back to the evil centaur and started to wrestle him down.

"Wahoo! Yeah, go, Herc! Beat that centaur!" Atticus cheered as the demigod eighteen-year-old was wrestling the evil creature.

"NICE WORK! EXCELENTE!" Phil also cheered as he came close to the woman with the kids.

Cherry gave a simple thumb's up.

"Is Wonder Boy here for real?" the woman nearly scoffed.

"Real as fiction." Cherry said, then paused, feeling she worded that wrong.

"What are ya talkin' about? Of course, he's real!" Phil told the woman, then tried to woo her. "By the way, I'm real too..."

The woman grunted and shoved him into the water.

"Yeah, Phil, I don't think she's interested in you." Atticus said to the wet satyr.

Cherry and Atticus then watched as Hercules continued to tangle with Nessus. The centaur was flung against a tree and rode around on like in a rodeo show with a bull. Hercules even punched him clear in the face and made Nessus's shoes fly back down on his head to knock him clear out.

Hercules finished and went to see the group as the kids were cheering for him, except for Phil. "How was that, Phil?"

"Rein it in, rookie!" Phil nearly snapped. "You can get away with mistakes like those in minor decathlon's, but this is the big leagues!"

"At least I beat him, didn't I?" Hercules scoffed.

"Be a little grateful." Cherry added, a little peeved with the satyr's attitude.

"Look, next time, don't let your guard down because of a pair of big goo-goo eyes!" Phil growled back as Hercules looked back to the damsel, but paying more attention to her than the satyr now. "It's like I keep tellin' ya! You gotta stay focused and you..." Phil saw Hercules walking off and shut himself up in annoyance.

Pegasus held out his hoof to get a high-five. However, Hercules walked right past him and went to see the woman. The kids all looked at each other and saw he was clearly in love with the girl. Pegasus turned red in anger and Phil nearly bleated in equal anger.

"Well, someone seems to have fallen in love." Atticus said, referring to Hercules.

"Guess we better stay out of it..." Cherry walked away. "I don't know what it's like to fall in love."

"We still have to find out who she is and what she was doing with that centaur." Atticus said.

"He does have a point." Phil said.

"Are you alright, Miss--" Hercules started to ask.

"Megara," the woman revealed and let her wet ponytail smack him in the face. "My friends call me Meg. At least they would if I had any friends..."

"So, do they give you a name with all those...rippling pectorals?" Meg asked, handing Hercules one of her sandals.

Hercules stammered and chuckled nervously like a school boy with an older crush.

"Are you always this articulate?" Meg asked, putting her sandal back on.

"HERCULES!" the demigod finally said. "My name is Hercules... Those are my friends, Cherry and Atticus..."

"Hercules, huh?" Meg glanced at him. "I think I prefer Wonder Boy."

"She seems nice." Atticus whispered to Cherry.

"I think I relate a lot to her." Cherry added.

Pegasus went in front of Hercules to block Meg's view of him with feathered wings in the way.

"So, how did you get mixed up with...?" Hercules asked, peaking at her through the feathers.

"Pinhead with Hooves?" Meg deadpanned. "Well, you know how men are. They think 'no' means 'yes' and 'get lost' means 'take me, I'm yours'." she gave a flirty look.

Hercules looked at her and glanced at Pegasus who looked unsure himself.

"Don't worry," Meg said. "Shorty over there can explain it to you later."

Phil took great offense to that.

"Well, thanks for everything, Herc," Meg started to walk away. "It's been a real slice."

"Wait! Can we give you a ride?" Hercules offered before Pegasus flew up to a tree, looking like he wasn't coming down.

"It's crowded enough already!" Cherry said to him, feeling claustrophobic.

"I don't think your pinto likes me very much." Meg pointed out.

"Pegasus? Oh, no, don't be silly," Hercules still wanted her to come along with them. "He'd be more happy to-OW!" he had an apple hit at him.

Pegasus whistled innocently and looked away.

"I'll be on my way," Meg continued walking. "I'm a tough girl, I can tie my own sandals and everything. Bye-bye, Wonder Boy." she then walked off behind the shadows.

Hercules gave a shy wave back. "Bye... Sh-She's something, isn't she, guys?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah. She's a complete something alright..." Phil said calmly, then lost his mind with anger. "A REAL PAIN IN THE PATELLA!" he then climbed Hercules and tried to wake him up from his love-struck face. "Hey, earth to Herc! Come in, Herc, we got a job to do, remember? Thebes is still waiting!" he then blew his whistle to get Pegasus.

"Oh, right, I knew that..." Hercules mumbled.

"Alright, Thebes, here we come!" Atticus cheered.

Pegasus flew in to let them all board on him and take them away to the city of Thebes.


	7. Chapter 7

"Here it is, kids, Thebes, the Big Olive," Phil told them as they landed as people passed by whether by foot or in chariots. It was like the Greek version of modern-day New York City.

"Wow, the city..." Cherry was delighted.

"Is that all one town?" Hercules asked the satyr.

"One town, a million problems," Phil told him, but mostly all of them. "Stick with me, kids. The city is a dangerous place."

"Oh, come on, how dangerous could it possibly be?" Atticus asked.

"Just watch." Cherry commented.

As they were about to cross, a man sped by on a taxi chariot. "Watch where you're going, moron!" he yelled at them.

"HEY! I'M WALKIN' HERE!" Phil yelled back, then looked back to his new friends. "This is what I mean, I'm tellin' ya, nutcases!"

"Come here, Pegasus..." Cherry said, nervous to be handling a horse despite coming from a long line of horse trainers in her family.

The winged horse snorted gently and followed them more into town. As they were getting closer, a shifty man came to them. He bounced in front of them and whipped open his cloak, surprising them in alarm. "Any of you wanna buy a sun dial?"

"They're not interested, go home and rethink your life," Phil snorted to shoo away the possible crook. "I'm tellin' you, kids, the city is full of whack jobs."

"THE END IS COMING!" a shaky man twitched around them, sounding hysterical. "Can you feel it!?"

"I think this guy has lost a few screws." Atticus whispered to Cherry.

Cherry waved her finger next to her ear and made coo-coo noises.

"Yeah, nice meetin' ya," Phil scoffed as they continued to stroll. "Like I said, this city is full of whackos. Keep your eyes on the road."

"Why are they all so paranoid?" Atticus asked, curiously.

"It's because they live in a city of turmoil." Phil answered him.

There was a sad family together as they were by a fountain. They looked more upset than the other people in the city they lived with. They freaked out once they saw a locust appear on the fountain and it made them scream out of fear due to being struck by several tragedies.

"That's it!" the old man snapped. "I'm movin' to Sparta!"

"Excuse me, but I think what you folks are looking for is a hero." Hercules said to the family.

The group stared at him with their arms folded.

"Yeah, and who are you?" the older, rough man questioned, glaring at him and breaking the silence.

Phil, Atticus, and Cherry gently shoved Hercules over to introduce himself and state his business.

"I-I'm Hercules and I happen to be a hero!" the demigod said, proud, but lost his confidence as the others laughed at him.

"He's serious!" Atticus told them.

"Some hero." the shaky woman laughed.

"Is that so?" the old man challenged. "Have you ever saved a town before?"

"Uh, no... But..." Hercules stammered a bit.

"Have you ever reversed a natural disaster?" the tough man asked, grabbing Hercules.

"Well, not exactly..."

"I knew it, he's just another chariot chaser!"

"Isn't that what we need?" the half-burnt man snorted.

"Don't you pea-brains get it?!" Phil yelled at them.

"Yeah, he's worked really hard for this!" Cherry added, folding her arms at them.

The group looked back to them as the satyr and kids started to defend Hercules.

"Yeah, this kid is genuine article!" Phil continued his defense.

"Hey, isn't that the goat who trained Achilles?" the tall, skinny man looked down at Phil.

The satyr turned bright red in anger. "Watch it, pal..."

"Hey, you're right!" the rough man laughed, mocking him. "Hey, nice job on those heels! Ya missed a spot!"

Phil snorted, looking like a charging bull to a matador. "I got your heel, right here!" he snarled and pounced on that man and bit him on his butt, tearing off some of his clothes to show his underwear.

"Yikes." Atticus said.

"Phil!" Hercules picked him up.

"What are you, crazy?" the rough man was on the ground, looking badly battered. "Geez!"

"Young man, we are in need of a professional hero, not an amateur." the short woman said as they walked off together.

"No, wait, stop!" Hercules called after them sadly, then let Phil go. He sighed and sat, feeling very down and worthless. "How am I supposed to prove myself if they won't give me a chance?"

"This frend of mine always told me 'Don't care about what other people think, they don't do it often'." Cherry quoted.

"She's right." Atticus said.

"Yeah, don't worry, buddy," Phil patted Hercules on the knee. "You'll get your chance."

"Yeah, some catastrophe or disaster will come along." Cherry added, sounding positive about something bad to happen for a change.

"Help, somebody, please!" a familiar voice came from the crowd. It had been Meg! "There's been a terrible accident!"

"Meg?" Hercules went over and saw his damsel.

"You and your big mouth." Phil stared at Cherry.

"Wow, what are the coincidence that she would have a catastrophe or disaster." Atticus said.

"Wonder Boy, Hercules!" Meg sounded very happy to see him in contrast to before. "Listen, we've got huge trouble, bring your friends!"

"What's wrong?" Hercules asked.

"Outside of town, there were these two little boys playing in a gorge," Meg explained, sounding breathless. "There was this terrible rockslide, a terrible rockslide! They're trapped, and-"

"Kids?" Hercules seemed to beam. "Trapped? Guys, this is great!"

"You're really choked up about this, aren't you?" Meg glanced at his excitement.

"Come on, let's go!" Hercules got Meg to find the kids in trouble she had mentioned, accidentally leaving Cherry, Atticus, and Phil behind.

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me!" Atticus exclaimed.

"Come on, we might as well move." Cherry sighed.

Phil was trailing behind, a lot slower than they were, but he managed to catch up.

"I cannot believe this, well, he was really excited about doing this, let's just hope that we don't miss a thing." Atticus said while running.

Cherry had to stop every once in a while, but soon, they all made it to where Meg told Hercules about.

Meg was in Hercules's arms after having a rougher ride on Pegasus than Cherry ever did.

"Help!" a voice of a child cried in the distance. "I can't breathe!"

"Get us out!" another kid cried out.

"We're suffocating, someone call IX-I-I!" the first kid nearly wailed.

"That must mean 9-1-1." Atticus whispered.

"Why are you saying that?" Cherry gave him a look. 

Hercules came close to the kids as they were nearly crushed. "Easy fellas, you're gonna be alright."

"Get us out before we get crushed!" the chubby boy nearly groaned.

Some of the citizens came over to witness this. Hercules used all the strength he could, knowing he could do this when no one else could. He then groaned and lifted the boulder slowly and struggling, but it wasn't too much for him to handle like a mortal. Some of the people were impressed by Hercules's strength as he got the kids to get out free.

"All right!" Cherry was happy for Hercules since the people were actually giving him a chance at his hero thing now. 

"You kids alright?" Hercules asked, looking like a role model for them.

"We're okay now." the skinny blonde boy said, smiling.

"Jeepers, mister, you're really strong!" the chubby boy with curly hair beamed.

"Well, just try to be more careful next time, okay, kids?" Hercules advised, nearly losing his strength with how long he was holding the boulder.

"We sure will!" the blonde boy called as he ran with his friend.

Cherry glanced to the kids, she felt something off about them. "Hmm..."

"Wanna go and see of what's up with those kids?" Atticus suggested.

"I kinda want to..." Cherry said to him.

"Want me to go with you?" Atticus offered.

"I got this..." Cherry walked off as it looked like it was about to rain. 

The kids climbed up a high rock and were in front of an old familiar face. "Stirring preformance, boys... I was really moved..."

"'Jeepers, mister'!?" the blonde boy mocked his friend as he turned into a blue demon with long horns and tiny wings with a tail.

"I was going for innocence!" the pudgy boy retorted, turning into a plump purple demon with short horns and tiny wings with a tail.

Cherry narrowed her eyes, she KNEW there was something wrong with those two!

"And two thumbs up for our leading lady, what a witch, what a doll." Hades said, referring to Meg while giving to thumbs up.

Meg looked back at them, then back at Hercules and whispered very softly. "Get out of there while you still can..."

Cherry then looked to Meg, narrowing her eyes. "Hm... Working for the bad guy, huh?" she nearly scoffed, she had to tell the others about this and fast!

"Did you hear that?" The plump purple demon asked.

"Hear what?" the blue demon looked around.

"Who else is there?" Hades demanded.

Cherry was trying to climb down and get back to Phil, Atticus, and Hercules, but she started to hear a hissing noise. "That sounds like a Hydra..." she whispered to herself. She then felt someone grabbing her and lifting her up. "Hey, let go!" she struggled.

"Hey, you're that mortal girl that was on Mount Olympus with that mortal boyfriend of yours." Hades said.

"Atticus is not my boyfriend..." Cherry slightly narrowed her eyes at him. 

"What're ya gonna do with her, Hades?" the blue demon asked.

"Yeah, can we eat her?" the purple one asked with a rather eager and hungry grin.

"First, you call me boss, remember? And second, no we'll keep her alive, she just might be useful." Hades said.

"Boss?" Cherry raised a brow.

"Yes, you're working for me now, just like Meg over there." Hades informed.

"Yeaaaaaaah.... No." Cherry got out of his grip as it started to rain.

"Oh, I would do what he says if we were you." The blue demon suggested.

"I don't do what anyone says..." Cherry looked away.

Hades got his hands together, grabbed her shoulders and took out a glowing sphere.

"What the!?" Cherry gasped.

"I guess you won't be wanting or needing this then..." Hades held the sphere and spun it on his fingertip like a basketball. "I'll just keep it from now on..."

"Is that my soul?" Cherry asked.

"Yes, I just love the mortal soul..." Hades laughed. "Good for the heart, ya know. Unless you do as I say, this will be mine and I'll see you in the Underworld."

Cherry saw she had no choice and then accepted his wishes.

"That's a good mortal girl." Hades said before he patted her on the head.

"Yes, Boss..." Cherry forced herself to say.

"Where's Cherry?" Phil asked once he finally made it there.

"I don't know, but do you hear all that applause?" Hercules asked.

The hissing returned as it was getting a little stormy now.

"Hate to burst your bubble, kid, but that ain't applause." Phil noted, a little scared.

"That sounds more like hissing and it's coming from in there." Atticus said, pointing towards where the huge rock use to be.

The group looked over. There appeared to be a very frightening, cold-blooded and hungry creature coming from underneath with its burning red eyes. It looked like a hideous, terrifying dragon. The others looked with horror.

"P-P-Phil, what do ya call that thing?" Hercules grew instantly nervous.

"Two words!" Phil called as he ran away with the kids. "AM-SCRAY!"

The crowd that saw Hercules lift the boulder earlier, were there and looked just as alarmed as the satyr.

"Let's get ready to RUMBLE!" Hades's voice was heard, seemingly from nowhere.

Atticus made a run for it and joined the satyr. Hercules fumbled for his weapon and wielded it. The kids went with Phil who kept coaching Herc as he used his sword and tried to take down the menace of Thebes. Hercules was about to stab the creature with the sword, but it got stuck to a rock. The Hydra was ramming its head down and Hercules dodged in time to get it to eat the rock instead.

Hercules then came back and ripped open the Hydra's jaws and hit its head on the ground and went to quickly get his sword to successfully bring down this savage beast. However, as he was close to the sword, the Hydra grabbed his ankle with his tongue and threw him up in the air to devour him. The whole crowd cringed and grimaced as Hercules had been eaten alive.

The Hydra licked its lips and was about to go for one of the kids now, but it felt a disturbance inside its body. Hercules had sliced the throat open in order to get out. It was rather disgusting, but the crowd went crazy for him. Hercules fell to the ground unharmed and was covered in possibly stomach acid.

"Yes! Hercules did it!" Atticus cheered.

"That... That wasn't so... so hard..." Hercules muttered a bit, in a daze and fell to the ground.

"Kid?" Phil stood over him as he looked with Atticus. "Kid, how many horns do you see?"

Hercules looked rather dizzy. "Six...?"

"Close enough," Phil shrugged, then helped him up with Atticus's help. "Let's go get you cleaned up."

"Yeah, you deserve it after defeating that creature." Atticus said.

As they were leaving, the Hydra was still for a moment, but somehow managed to come back to life. The others looked a little scared and nervous and saw the Hydra wake up and sprout three heads. It started to rain and Phil screamed seeing the three heads in alarm.

Hercules decided to signal Pegasus over to help him engage in this combat. Pegasus put the demigod on his back and Hercules wielded his sword to do what he did before. However, every time he would slice a head, the Hydra would grow a new head. It was getting so bad that the Hydra nearly had about a hundred heads.

"WILL YOU FORGET THE HEAD SLICING THING!?" Phil yelled.

"YEAH!" Atticus added.

The Hydra knocked Pegasus from Hercules and made the man fall against the several heads trying to eat him. He was almost about to defeat it, but the Hydra was a lot smarter than he anticipated for it to be. Lightning flashed against a distant mountain. Pegasus looked up and saw his demigod friend had nearly perished. The mountain crumbled and had buried the Hydra and Hercules.

"Is he gone...?" Cherry quietly wondered while Hades was lighting a cigar in victory.

"There goes another one..." Phil murmured. "Just like Achilles..."

"N-No, he can't be gone, he just can't be....." Atticus said out of sadness.

Cherry looked very bleak to the Hydra, not sure what to say or do to that. However, the Hydra was starting to move again. The crowd was nervous as they thought it was going to come back and try to kill them like the fake-out it gave Hercules. The monster was rumbling and it was cut open again, this time killing it and Hercules had come out, unharmed and very well alive. The crowd went crazier and cheered for the demigod.

"Hey, he's okay..." Cherry said softly.

This angered Hades that he grabbed his minions and overheated them from his anger.

"Wahoo! Yes! He did it! He won! Hercules won!" Atticus cheered.

"Whoo! Go, Hercules!" Cherry clapped for him.

Even Pegasus cheered. The crowd went for Hercules and carried him over their shoulders to celebrate his victory. Phil was so proud of him like he was Hercules's father now and he had done something very well-accomplished. Meg had a small smile like the others and clapped gently as the people celebrated Hercules. Thebes was starting to look good about right now to live in with him on their side.

'This is going great.' Atticus thought to himself. 'But where's Cherry?'

Cherry came to Meg's side as they watched this and it was sunny and bright now. And where Hades began to get really angry as everything he tried to get rid of Hercules, didn't work.


	8. Chapter 8

Hercules was a celebrity in Thebes now and a living legend. People would cheer and worship him, like his family before him, a God. His name was even on every vase. Cherry, Atticus, Phil, and Hercules collected golden coins that were generous and treasured donations from the public who admired Hercules like the god he was born to be. Hercules became the face of painters and on credit cards such as Grecian Express. He even beat up a vicious lion coming for the people. A lot of people agreed that Hercules put the glad in gladiator and was a zero to hero. 

And where every monster and natrual disaster that came was either defeated or taken care of by the demigod and where this angered Hades more and more. Hercules was even given a store of himself that had coffee cups, action figures, branded sandals and almost anything else with Hercules's face on it. Cherry and Atticus watched as Hercules rode on Pegasus to stop the Harpy and trapped it in a giant bird cage.

The group was in a boat once with Phil. As it was a normal boat ride, there came a sea serpent to attack them. It was no match for Hercules as he grabbed it and turned it into a delicious and nutritious seafood dinner course. Hercules sponsored a new sports drink and the sandals for a lot of the young ones in his fan base. Hercules used some of the money to give to his adoptive parents and make them very proud, and he hoped his biological father was as well as they were. 

Hercules also faced creatures like a gorgon, a griffin, and a Minotaur. Hercules even stopped a volcano before lava even erupted and came out by shoving a rock over its hole. Hercules and Pegasus were high-time celebrities and put their prints in wet cement for their viewing public.

'Wow.' Atticus thought to himself.

"Where's Cherry now?" Phil wondered.

"She said she wanted to meet some people..." Hercules shrugged as he put his hands into the cement as the people watched.

Pegasus smiled as he put his hooves against the wet cement as well.

"Well, I'm sure that she'll be just fine with these people she's meeting." Atticus said.

Phil just shrugged, but smiled proudly to Hercules and Pegasus for not letting him down, they were his one last hope.

'This is going great, I'm sure that this will make Hercules a true hero and if not, then just close enough.' Atticus thought to himself.

Meanwhile...

"PULL!" Hades demanded.

The two demons, known as Pain and Panic, were launching vases with Hercules's face on them and Hades struck them each with a blast to take out his frustration.

"Nice shootin', Tex." Meg muttered. 

"Yeah..." Cherry shrugged in agreement.

"I can't believe this guy! I throw everything I've got at him and he doesn't even--" Hades stopped in mid-sentence as soon as he heard some squeaking sound from sandals and then looked at Pain was wearing sandals with Hercules's face on them. "What are those?"

"Uhh.... I dunno..." Pain shrugged with his hands behind his back and shuffled his feet. "I thought they looked kinda dashing..."

"I am trying to get rid of this bozo which I've been planning for eighteen years which goes up in smoke and you ARE WEARING HIS MERCHANDISE?!" Hades yelled.

Pain was very fearful and worried of what would happen. Hades then turned as he heard low sipping.

Panic was drinking from a cup with Hercules's face on it, he then smiled nervously as all eyes were on him now. "Uhh... Thirsty?" he offered with a sheepish chuckle some of his drink.

This just caused for Hades to lose it, as he just yelled out all of his anger, causing for lots and lots of his fire to burn up and even burned Pain and Panic right into a rock wall.

Hercules, Phil, Pegasus, Atticus, and the others heard that, wondering what it was and where it came from, but just shrugged it off.

'Whatever that was, I hope it wan't anything too dangerous.' Atticus thought to himself.

"Looks like your game's over, 'Boss'." Cherry said to Hades. 

"Wonder Boy's hitting every curve ball you throw at him." Meg nodded in agreement.

Hades was about to make a remark towards them both until he got an idea and began to chuckle evilly.

"Oh, yeah, well, maybe, I haven't thrown the right curve at him, Meg, my sweet." Hades said while making a curvy line of smoke around Meg.

Cherry looked rather disgusted with Hades's attempts to coddle against Meg.

"Don't even go there." Meg scowled once she had a pretty good idea about where this was going.

"See, he's gotta have a weakness," Hades suggested. "Because, everybody's got a weakness. I mean... For what? Pandora, it was that box thing... For the Trojans, hey, they bet on the wrong horse. We just have to find what Wonder Boy's is." 

"I've done my part, why don't you send someone else to find out his weakness?" Meg asked.

"I still have Cherry..." Hades reminded.

"Get those imps of yours to do it..." Cherry folded her arms.

"They couldn't handle him as a baby..." Hades came in front of the girls. "I need someone who can handle him as a man."

"I'm not interested..." Cherry ruled herself out, then looked to Meg.

"Don't look at me," Meg said to her. "I've sworn off manhandling."

Hades thought of something that would help him get Meg or Cherry to find out Hercules's weakness.

"Well you know that's good, because that's what got you into this jam in the first place, isn't it, girls?" Hades tempted.

"What're you talking about?" Cherry glanced at him.

"You haven't told her, have you?" Hades asked Meg.

"It isn't exactly something that I want to talk about." Meg said.

"Tell me what?" Cherry's curiosity was now piqued.

"Oh, you don't know?" Hades chuckled like it was amusing to him, but clearly wasn't for Meg. "She sold her soul to me to save her boyfriend's life, and how does that creep thank her? By running off with some babe..."

Meg looked away, though she was clearly hurt by what had happened in her former life.

"He hurt you real bad, didn't he, Meg?" Hades taunted the older female.

"Look, I've learned my lesson, okay?" Meg glared to him in return.

"Which is exactly why I think you both are gonna wanna do this either of you find out about the weakness of Wonder Breath, and I'll give both of you the one thing that Meg has been craving for most in the entire cosmos," Hades said handing them both a vase with Hercules's face on them before whispering into their ears. "Both of your freedoms."

Cherry and Meg were actually shocked by that and they dropped the vases they were holding. What were they going to do?

Eventually, Cherry was let go, but she couldn't say anything Hades said out of context and she had to act like she didn't know anything. Hercules, Pegasus, and Atticus were on their way to visit Zeus, but stopped to see her.

"We're gonna see Zeus," Atticus said to her. "Wanna come?"

"Um, sure..." Cherry shrugged.

"Great." Atticus said before handing her the blindfold.

Cherry took it and tightened it the best she could. Atticus tested it to make sure it was tight enough, once he saw it was, he climbed up on Pegasus, taking her hand. Hercules saw they were set and sent Pegasus to his father's temple. It was a long flight, but they finally made it there and as soon as Zeus made it there in the statue, they began to tell him everything.


	9. Chapter 9

"You should've been there, Father," Hercules rambled on, really excited to tell Zeus everything that had happened to him lately and used Pegasus to demonstrate his moves. "I mangled the Minotaur, grabbed with the Gorgon just like Phil told me; I analyzed the situation, controlled my strength and kicked... The crowds went wild!"

Pegasus fell into the fountain and whistled to be like a cheering crowd.

"Thank you, thank you..." Hercules smiled rather smugly.

"You're doing great, son!" Zeus was very pleased to hear the progress. "You're doing your old man proud, thank you Cherry and Atticus very much for helping him, you will be rewarded for this."

"It was our pleasure, sir." Atticus said.

"I'm so glad to hear you say that, Father, which is why I can't wait for that day to come." Hercules said.

"Hmm..." Zeus thoguht for a moment. "What day is that, son?"

"The day I rejoin the gods." Hercules replied like it was obvious.

"Wasn't that the deal?" Cherry added, she was a little confused of what was happening right now.

"You've done wonderfully," Zeus replied, a little uneasily. "You really have my boy, you're just not there yet..."

Hercules's smile disappeared.

"You haven't proven yourself, a true hero." Zeus continued.

"What more can he do?" Atticus asked.

"Father, I've beaten every single monster I've come up against," Hercules ranted slightly. "I'm, I'm the most famous person in all Greece, I-I'm an action figure!" he then took out an action figure of himself and squeezed it to prove his point.

"I'm afraid being famous isn't the same as being a true hero," Zeus explained. "It's something you have to discover for yourself."

"So he can't come home yet?" Cherry asked.

"I'm sorry, but he must look inside his heart to find his answer..." Zeus said before changing back into his statue form.

"Well, that was a total bummer," Atticus said. "And what did he mean for Hercules to look inside his own heart to find the answer?"

Hercules was in a little rant about being dismissed about going back to Mount Olympus. "I'm famous... What more can I do?"

"Fame isn't everything..." Cherry said to him. "I'm sure he'll figure it out sooner or later."

"Yeah, I guess, well, we better go and get some rest." Atticus said.

"It's been a long day..." Cherry agreed as she left with Atticus.

Hercules sighed, he saw his friends leaving and decided to join them.

"I just hope that tomorrow won't be too crazy with the fan girls." Atticus said.

Cherry looked at him.

"What?" Atticus asked.

"Just thinking like that is asking for something opposite to happen." Cherry said.

"What? Some fan girls can go crazy or so I think." Atticus said.

"Yeah, but since you brought it up, it's gonna happen now." Cherry said, walking ahead of him then.

"Oh, come on, how fast could fan girls possibly be?" Atticus asked.

"Very..." Cherry glared at him. "Now stop before you end the world or something..." she then walked off.

"Okay, okay, I'll stop, but come on, no fan girl would stay up all night just to get something of Hercules's." Atticus said.

"ATTICUS!" Cherry yelled out to shut him up.

They all went straight to sleep and the next morning, Hercules was asked to pose for his newest vase and had to wear a lion pelt with a sword as requested by the artist. It was going to be a busy day and Phil kept a to-do list for the day they were in for.

"Yikes, um, nice lion pelt." Atticus said, wincing at how Hercules looked wearing the pelt with a sword while in a pose.

"Thanks, I guess..." Hercules murmured.

The artist was then painting Hercules's image on the vase to sell to the people who admired him.

"Okay, at 1:00, you got a meeting with King Augeas," Phil read from his list. "He's got a problem with his stables... I'd advise you not to wear your sandals."

"Phil..." Hercules spoke up gently.

"I told you, don't move!" the artist scolded.

Hercules went back to his heroic pose as the artist went back to his masterpiece vase.

"What else?" Atticus asked the satyr.

Phil continued on and on while Hercules was under slight pressure.

Eventually, Hercules had enough. "Phil, WHAT'S THE POINT!?"

The artist flinched from his little outburst and gave up on the painting and just decided to leave. "THAT'S IT!"

"Keep your toga on, pal." Phil tried to stop him.

The artist tossed his art supplies down which made Phil look like a clown with the paint and he stormed off in a huff.

"Wow, someone sure has a temper problem." Atticus said, referring to the artist.

"Art is true pain..." Cherry muttered, feeling the arist's pain.

Phil got himself out of the paint and grabbed the lion pelt to wipe his face. "What do you mean 'what's the point'?" he asked the demigod. "You wanna go to Olympus, don't ya?"

"Yeah, but this stuff doesn't seem to be getting me anywhere..." Hercules replied sadly, still touchy about what he talked about with Zeus last night. 

Cherry couldn't help but stare at the lion pelt. "This looks weirdly familiar..." she muttered to herself.

"That lion pelt looks suddenly creepy." Atticus said.

Cherry kicked it out of their way. "Anyways, Herc, you can't give up now..." she tried to help their friend.

"She's right, kid, I'm counting on you." Phil added.

"I gave this everything I had..." Hercules said, still very depressed.

"Okay, I think he needs a pep talk to cheer him up." Atticus said.

"Everyone needs a good one now and again." Cherry agreed.

Phil heaved a sharp sigh, he decided to be the one to do it, being Hercules's coach and all. "Listen to me, kid... I've seen 'em all... And this is the honest to Zeus truth, but you've got something I've never seen before."

"Really?" Hercules asked, feeling inspired.

"I can feel right down to these stubby bowlegs of mine," Phil encouraged. "There is nothing you can't do, kid."

Cherry and Atticus smiled at this. Suddenly, there were numerous screams heard as the doors opened to reveal a bunch of fan girls.

"I told you." Cherry glared at Atticus since he had jinxed them.

"Oops, sorry, but right now, I suggest we close the doors before they stampede over to Herc." Atticus said.

Cherry and Atticus tried to hold the doors down, but they opened up on them as the fan girls swarmed over and tackled Hercules. Phil tried to get the girls away, but they just pushed him and continued to stalk and harass Hercules in a typical fan girl fashion.

"Guys... Help..." Hercules moaned as the girls were standing on top of him now.

"Okay, I've got a plan." Atticus said before whispering it to Phil, Cherry, and Hercules.

Phil and Cherry nodded. Phil came to the doors and whistled. The girls then split apart and noticed their 'dream man' was missing.

"Hey, where is he?" one girl asked unhappily.

"There he goes, on the Veranda!" Cherry pointed out the doors.

"Yeah, you better hurry and go get him before he gets away!" Atticus added in.

The fan girls swarmed to the doors and ran out. Phil chuckled eagerly and decided to join them, shutting the doors behind him. Meg mysteriously arrived behind the doors and was looking around.

"What're you doing here?" Atticus asked her.

"Oh, just hanging out..." Meg shrugged, she then saw a curtain with feet under it and decided to pull on it. "Let's see... Where could be behind curtain number one?"

"Meg!" Hercules gasped once he saw her.

"Yeah, she just mysteriously appeared after the doors closed." Atticus said.

"Where'd you come from?" Cherry asked Meg, rubbing her nose and adjusting her glasses from the door slamming in her face.

"Yeah, where did you come from?" Atticus asked.

"Like it matters..." Meg glanced at them, then looked back to Hercules. "So, this is what heroes do on their days off..."

"Nah, I'm no hero..." Hercules grew shy.

"Sure you are," Meg encoruaged. "Everybody in Greece thinks you're the greatest thing since they put the pocket in pita."

"Wow, that's big." Atticus said.

"I know, i-it's crazy..." Hercules chuckled. "I can't go anywhere without being mobbed. I mean..."

"Sounds like you could use a break. Think your little nanny goat would go--" Meg stopped in mid-sentence and squeaky toy of Phil."Berserk if you played hooky this afternoon?"

"Oh gee, I-I don't know, Phil's got the rest of the day pretty much booked." said Hercules.

"Ah, Phil Schmil, just follow me out the window, round the dumbbells, you lift up the back wall and we're gone," Meg then approached Hercules. "That is, if your friends don't mind."

"Ah, go and have some fun with her, we'll keep Phil busy." Atticus said.

"Yeah, it really beats staying around here all day." Cherry added.

"Sounds like your schedule just cleared." Meg said to Hercules.

Hercules smiled, looking forward to spending some time alone with Meg.

"So, what do you wanna do?" Cherry asked Atticus. "There's nothing really here of interest that I can think to fill my free time."

"Keep Phil distracted so then he doesn't know that Hercules is with Meg?" Atticus suggested with a shrug.

"Something like that..." Cherry shrugged.


	10. Chapter 10

Eventually, they settled to playing cards and then Phil came back, still unable to win himself a girl.

Phil passed them and stopped. "Somethin's missin' here... And I can't think of what..."

"Time for plan: Distract the Satyr." Atticus whispered to Cherry.

Atticus then went up to the satyr to start the plan.

"Missing? Nothing's missing." Atticus said.

"Somethin' feels off, don't ya think?" Phil asked them.

"I don't feel much of anything anymore..." Cherry said as she took a card and put it into her stack.

"Hmm..." Phil looked at them. "Well... Okay..." he then walked off. "I better check on Pegasus, you two stay outta trouble."

"No promises..." Cherry said, staring at her cards.

"Yeah, we'll try to stay out of trouble, but no promises." Atticus said.

Phil hummed at them and then walked off, still not noticing Hercules was missing. Atticus laid out four kings. Cherry laid out five aces and leaned back, putting her hands behind her back.

"Dang it, where did you learn to play so good?" Atticus asked.

"I really wanna go to Las Vegas someday." Cherry rested her chin underneath her joined hands.

"Well, I'm sure that you would beat everyone there," Atticus said. "One more game."

"Very well..." Cherry took the card deck and shuffled them. "So, what do you think they're doing?"

"Herc and Meg?" Atticus asked.

Cherry nodded as she shuffled the best she could, based on how she saw it done on card tricks.

"Who knows, probably having a wonderful time together," Atticus shrugged before he sighed. "I sure wish I could be as strong as him, I mean, don't get me wrong I love that I found my parents and I am so glad I met Mo and that you and me are friends, but it would be great to be strong as Hercules, that way I can help with the car sometimes."

"Hm..." Cherry shrugged. "At least you've found love."

"You'll find love someday." Atticus assured her.

"Nah..." Cherry ignored that and passed some cards to him and back to herself.

"Oh, come on, Cherry, you'll find love someday, you really will." Atticus said.

"Sure..." Cherry said as she made the cards fly into her hand in the air. "And I suppose pigs will sprout wings and fly like birdies!" she then said, optimistic and cheerful to highlight her sarcasm.

Phil kept coming back once in a while, the sun was going down and he was now realizing that Hercules was gone. Pegasus came to Phil.

"You know where he is?" Phil asked Pegasus.

Pegasus smiled proudly with a nod.

"What?! How do you know?!" Atticus asked out of shock and surprise.

Pegasus smirked.

Phil looked at Cherry and Atticus. "You know where he is?"

"Welllll..." Cherry drawled out, avoiding eye contact with the satyr.

"Um....." Atticus drawled out as well, while avoiding eye contact with the satyr.

Phil folded his arms at the kids. "I'm ashamed of ya two!" he then hopped onto Pegasus. "Get on the horse, we're findin' him!"

Cherry and Atticus sighed and got onto Pegasus. Once they were on, Pegasus spread his wings and flew them out as it was getting very dark outside.

"It's getting very dark, we won't be able to find them in the dark." Atticus said before he gasped and covered his mouth.

Phil had an idea, he found some sort of light and attached to Pegasus. "We'll find him... Now, who's them?"

Cherry folded her arms at Atticus. "No one..."

"I'll show you no one..." Phil glanced at her.

"How does that make any sense?" Atticus asked the satyr.

"Shuddap." Phil snapped, he was very angry that Hercules had wandered off.

Hercules and Meg were alone together in the darkness, feeling a romantic atmosphere and were about to kiss, but that was when Phil came to break it up like an overprotective father.

"ALRIGHT, BREAK IT UP, BREAK IT UP!" Phil yelled through a megaphone. "PARTY'S OVER! WE'VE BEEN LOOKIN' ALL OVER THIS TOWN!"

"Sorry, Herc and Meg, we distracted him as long as we could." Atticus apologized.

"That's okay..." Hercules replied, though sounded a little sad about the interruption.

Phil was scolding Meg and she was arguing with him back and claimed it was all her fault.

"AND AS FOR YOU, YA BUM," Phil snapped at Hercules. "YOU'RE GONNA GO TO THE STADIUM AND YOU GONNA BE PUT THROUGH THE WORK-OUT OF YOUR LIFE! NOW GET ON THE HORSE!"

"Okay... Okay..." Hercules lazily agreed.

"Sorry." Meg apologized to the demigod.

"Ah, he'll get over it..." Hercules shrugged it off for her sake. He then found a flower and gave it to her, even getting a chance to kiss her.

Meg was shocked as if she had never been kissed before. 

"MOVE!" Phil repeated himself over and over until Hercules would be on board Pegasus.

"Calm down, Phil, he's coming." Atticus said.

Pegasus took off once Hercules was on. Hercules was looking back at Meg, very dazed due to being madly head over heels in love with her.

"Hey, watch it!" Phil kept trying to dodge branches due to Hercules not properly 'driving' Pegasus. "Ooh, watch it! Keep your goo-goo eyes on the--" He was then knocked off by one branch and fell off as Pegasus kept flying without him. "Next time I drive..." he muttered woozily.

"I'm sure that Phil will catch up with us." Atticus shrugged.

"Whatever..." Cherry sounded uncaring.

Pegasus kept flying until they were at the stadium while Hercules was still just as sappy in love as ever.

"And seems like someone is in L-O-V-E." Atticus said.

"Oh, barf..." Cherry rolled her eyes.

Pegasus landed in the stadium. Hercules hopped off and decided to focus on his training, but of course, due to falling in love, he had only one real thing on his mind.

"I'm gonna go throw up..." Cherry walked away mysteriously, disappearing behind the bleachers.

"I'll never understand that girl." Atticus rolled his eyes.

Pegasus snorted and whinnied in agreement.

Cherry decided to start looking for Phil, the Muses and Meg were singing about how she would refuse to say she was in love, but she gave in and had to admit she was. She then rolled her eyes and was about to walk away, but then, the beautiful scenes were instantly fading away and they were interrupted by Hades's appearance.

"So, what's up, huh, Meg?" Hades asked. "What's the weak link in Wonder Boy's chain?"

"Get yourself another girl, I'm through." Meg ignored him.

"I'm sorry, you mind runnin' that by me again?" Hades asked, thinking maybe she had to be joking. "I must've had a chunk of brimstone stuck in my ear or somethin'..."

"Then read my lips!" Meg got in his face, more icy than she normally was. "Forget it!" She then began to walk away from him, not wanting to do anything for him ever again.

Cherry saw her coming and backed up a bit. Pain and Panic grabbed her arms and started to pull on her.

"Hey, let go!" Cherry groaned.

"We got business to take care of!" Pain told her.

"Ya ever shape shift before?" Panic asked.

"No, why?" Cherry asked.

"You're about to," Pain grinned evilly to his 'friend'. "Right, Panic?"

"That's right, Pain." Panic grinned evilly back.

"Let go!" Cherry called, but they refused to.

Pain and Panic rushed her as Hades was talking with Meg, little did anyone know, Phil recovered and he heard every word.


	11. Chapter 11

Phil rushed over to tell his friends the news while Hercules did his work-outs, but was still stuck with having Meg on his brain.

"Yep, he must really be in love with Meg, I can just tell." Atticus said.

"Hey, Phil," Hercules greeted once he saw the satyr, but was still infatuated with his new female friend. "What happened to you?"

"Kid, we gotta talk." Phil said to him.

"What do you need to talk to him about?" Atticus asked the satyr.

"Well, it's about--" Phil said before getting interrupted by Hercules.

"Oh, Phil, I just had the greatest day of my life!" Hercules grinned. "I can't stop thinking about Meg. She's something else..."

"Kid, I'm tryin' to talk to ya," Phil tried to be assertive like he was as his coach. "Will you just come down here and listen!?"

Hercules was on the bars now. "Oh, how can I come down there when I'm feeling so UP!?" he then rocketed to the sky.

"Wow, he actually rocketed up into the sky." Atticus said out of shock and surprise.

Phil was impressed himself, but was still anxious to tell Hercules what he knew. Pegasus looked up as well, but then there was a whistle which caught his attention and he looked over. Atticus looked with him and did a double take. There was a female pink pegasus with angel like wings, a heart-shaped mark on her flank, beautiful sky blue eyes with a curly and flowing blonde mane. There appeared to be a young girl with her.

"Hello, where did you two come from?" Atticus asked the girl and female Pegasus.

"Oh, we're lost..." the girl said, rubbing against him flirtatiously. "Could you help us out...?"

Pegasus found himself drawn to the female winged horse and came closer to her.

"Um, sure? But are you trying to flirt with me?" Atticus asked, stepping away from the girl.

"Why would you say that...?" the girl held his face. "Everybody needs a taste of the dark side once in a while..."

"Well, not me, I'm sorry, but I'm not interested into you, I'm already in love with someone else," Atticus said, getting out or her grip. "I think you should get your Pegasus and fly into the air to find out where you're needing to go."

"Touchy..." the girl took his arm and forced him over.

Pegasus kept following his new love interest.

However, the female pegasus came apart and revealed to be Pain and Panic. "GOTCHA!"

"What the heck?!" Atticus asked out of shock.

The girl became Cherry and she grabbed Atticus then.

"Cherry, what the!?" Atticus looked at her.

"Sorry about this, Atticus." Cherry said as she trapped him while Pain and Panic got Pegasus.

"Hey, let me go!" Atticus exclaimed while trying to get out of Cherry's trap.

"I'm sorry, but I have to do this!" Cherry said to him, trying to restrain him.

"No! Never! I'm sorry that I have to do this." Atticus said before elbowing her in the stomach and then ran off before either of the demons or Cherry could catch him.

Cherry grunted, holding her stomach and fell to her knees. She knew Atticus would never do anything to hurt her, but that was a little much, even if he had to do it.

"AFTER HIM!" Pain yelled at her.

Cherry glared, she held her stomach and slowly went after Atticus. Pegasus was successfully restrained and he kept trying to get out, but was unable to. 

Phil kept trying to tell Hercules about Meg, but Hercules was still going on about how much in love with her he was.

"Guys! Guys!" Atticus ran towards the demigod and satyr.

"Oh, hey, Atticus, what's up?" Hercules asked, looking just as in love as ever.

"Cherry! Trying to trap me! Pegasus! Being restrained by two demons! Help!" Atticus called out.

"Kid, slow down, your'e talkin' to fast," Phil said to him, then looked back at Hercules. "Anyway, you gotta listen to me about that Meg girl! Listen to me, she's--"

"A dream come true?" Hercules finished for him.

"Not exactly."

"More beautiful than Aphrodite?"

"Aside from that..."

"The most wonderful--"

"SHE'S A FRAUD!" Phil yelled at him then. "She's been playin' ya for a sap!"

"Okay, first, I'll tell you what I was trying to tell you later and second, what are you talking about, Phil?" Atticus asked.

"The girl is usin' him!" Phil said to Atticus. 

"Ah, come on, stop kiddin' around." Hercules thought the satyr was trying to joke with him.

"I'm not kiddin' around." Phil insisted.

"Herc, I think he's telling the truth." Atticus said.

"I am!" Phil exclaimed, a little aggravated.

"I know you're upset about today, but that's no reason to..." Hercules tried to settle him.

"Kid, you're missin' the point." Phil said to him.

"The point is I love her." Hercules walked away.

"She don't love you!" Phil folded his arms.

"Okay, guys, let's just calm down before one of you does something that neither of you really wants to do." Atticus said to both the demigod and the satyr.

It was too late, Hercules and Phil were too angry and actually started to yell at each other and Hercules shoved Phil against some of the metal exercise equipment.

Atticus was shocked and worried. "Hercules, I can't believe you did that!" he scolded.

Hercules looked very angry, but once he saw he had hurt someone close to him, he looked sad. "Phil, I-I'm sorry..."

"Okay, that's it," Phil wasn't accepting his apology. "You won't face the truth? Fine..." he then decided to just leave and go back to where he came from.

"Phil, where are you going?" Atticus asked.

"I'm hoppin' to the first barge outta here," Phil said, a little angry. "I'm going home!"

Hercules was hurt, but his sadness turned into anger. "F-Fine! Go! I don't need you!"

Phil was on his way out, but looked back to Hercules one last time. "I figured you were gonna be the all-time champ," he said before disappearing out of their lives. "Not the all-time chump."

"Herc, how could you do that? Phil's been with you ever since he became your trainer." Atticus said.

"He just doesn't understand..." hercules folded his arms. "If you don't like it, you can just go with him."

Atticus just sighed, seeing that he wouldn't be able to get through to him and decided to leave Hercules alone, hopefully to think about what he did. Hercules was in a rather rotten mood, he watched Atticus go and actually felt bad, but he wasn't sure what else to say or do to that.

"Geez, Louise, what got their goats, huh?" a familiar voice came to Hercules.

'Wait a minute, that voice...' Atticus thought to himself as he was halfway from actually leaving.

"Baboom," the deathly god appeared before Hercules. "Name's Hades, Lord of the Dead, hi, how ya doin'?"

"Uh, not now, okay?" Hercules walked away from him.

"Hey, hey, I only need you for a few seconds, and I'm a fast talker alright," Hades kept talking to him however and floated among the bars. "See, I've got this major deal in the works. A real estate venture, if you will. And Herc, you little devil you, may I call you Herc?"

"Herc, don't trust him!" Atticus called out as he ran back to the demigod.

"Ah, don't listen to him..." Hades covered Atticus's mouth and continued to talk with Hercules. "Come on..."

"You've got the wrong guy..." Hercules tried to ignore Hades regardless of what Atticus told him.

"Here me out you little," Hades continued. "Just hear me out, okay? So I would be eternally grateful if you would just take a day-off from this hero business of yours. Geez, I mean, monsters, natural disasters. You wait a day, huh?"

"You're out of your mind." Hercules glared at him before going off yet again. 

"Not so fast, because ya see I do have a little leverage you might wanna know about." Hades said before he snapped his fingers.

Cherry and Meg were then shown to be trapped in some sort of bondage and were against each other as his hostages.

"Cherry!" Atticus called out to his friend in worry.

"Meg!" Hercules called out to the girl he had loved.

"Don't listen, Herc..." Cherry gasped out before her mouth was covered.

Hercules and Atticus rushed to Meg and Cherry, but they were disappeared.

"Let them go!" Atticus and Hercules rushed over to the Lord of the Dead, hoping to make him fall.

"Here's the trade-off," Hades mocked them, not inflicted from their impacts. "Hercules gives up his strength for about 24 hours. Let's say the next 24 hours and the lovely ladies are free as birds, safe from harm. We dance, we schmooze, we carry on, we go home happy, whatya say? Come on."

Hercules thought about it for a minute and narrowed his eyes slightly. "People are... Are gonna get hurt, aren't they?" he asked since Hades wanted him to give up his strength. 

"Nah, I mean, ya know, it's a possibility..." Hades tried to relax his mind a little. "It happens, cuz ya know, war... What can I tell ya? What're people gonna do?"

"Well, it's just that we can't predict of what will happen." Atticus said.

"Aren't they, those girls you two are so fond of, more important to ya?" Hades tempted.

"Stop it!" Hercules demanded.

"Aren't they!?" Hades grinned evilly.

Atticus narrowed his eyes, he didn't like Cherry like Hercules liked Meg, they were more like siblings with each other, but he was a little protective of her sometimes. "You gotta swear that they'll be safe from harm."

"Fine, okay, I'll give ya that one," Hades smirked. "Meg and Cherry are safe, otherwise Hercules gets his strength right back, yadda yadda fine print, boilerplate baboom."

"So then this deal is like a contract." Atticus said.

"You could say that," Hades smirked darkly. "Also a friend of mine wouldn't mind keeping Cherry custody, isn't that right, Maestro?"

A shadowed figure came up and there was a very pale and gaunt man with silver hair with big black eyes, wearing a black tail coat with white cuffs and golden lining with gray shorts, white tights, and black shoes.

"Have we met before, sir?" Atticus didn't recognize this man.

Cherry looked horrified at one of her greatest enemies.

"Yes, you could call me the one to have custody over Cerise..." the man said, snaking behind Cherry, he felt pleased to see her again after all these years. "Look at you, all grown up..."

"Um, okay, this isn't weird at all." Atticus said awkwardly.

"How did you get here?" Cherry demanded.

"I was watching you from the museum, I decided to pay my debt to society by helping..." the eighteenth century man told her. 

"But you died..." Cherry glared at him. "I remember, the Beast threw your keyboard at you and you toppled over and died!"

"How do you kill someone who's immortal?" the man taunted her with an evil smile. 

"Now, what do you boys say we shake on it?" Hades held out his hand to Hercules and Atticus.

"Well......" Atticus said, unsure.

"Going once, going twice..." Hades prompted, but the girls encouraged the boys not to go along with it.

"All right!" Hercules gave in.

Atticus then decided to give in as well and he shook hands with Hades after Herc went first.

"Yes, we're there, BAM!" Hades cheered.

Hercules suddenly felt weaker due to his strength being stolen from him. 

"You may feel just a little bit queasy, Herc," Hades told the demigod. "It's kind of natural..." he then grabbed a giant weight. "You boys might just wanna SIT DOWN!" he then shoved the weight against them, pushing them both back against the wall due to them not being able to stop it.

"Hey! Get this off us, you jerk!" Atticus glared.

"Why?" Hades taunted. "Now Hercules will know what it's like to be like everybody else. Isn't that just peachy!?"

"If you'll excuse me, I have a little date with destiny..." Forte said as he walked off with Cherry, keeping her to himself, he smiled evilly down to her, but he hid a small frown once he looked at her again. She just looked so beautiful as she got older and she had aged very well. She still had those youthful puppy dog eyes though that seemed to win his heart over her, but she never knew how he had felt about her, except that he was obsessed with her when she was a child. 

"Take her wherever you wish, just get out of here so I can make Thebes more miserable than it already is." Hades told the court composer.

"Yes, Hades..." Forte agreed, he then carried Cherry bridal style and disappeared with her.

"No!" Atticus cried out as he began to try to get free.

"Oh, and one more thing, a deal's a deal," Hades let Meg go free then. "And by the way, guys, is she not like a fabulous little actress?"

"Stop it..." Meg whispered, hurt enough already.

"What do you mean?" Hercules demanded, getting angry again.

"I mean, your little chicky poo was working with me the whole time," Hades revealed. "That little Cherry was too when she got caught for sticking her nose into other people's business. Duh!"

This shocked them both.

"You're... You're lying!" Hercules narrowed his eyes.

Hades smirked.

The boys who were trapped under the rock-slide then came to their sides.

"Help!" the blonde boy coughed.

"Jeepers, Mister, you're really strong!" the chubby boy added.

The boys then revealed themselves to be Pain and Panic.

"Hey! You two were the ones that restrained Pegasus!" Atticus glared at the two demons.

Pain and Panic just laughed at him.

"Couldn't have done it without you, sugar, sweetheart, babe..." Hades chuckled to the woman he had been taking advantage of lately.

"No, it's not like that!" Meg cried, but she was tuned out.

Pain and Panic were mocking Hercules as he was a zero now instead of a hero before he was a zero to hero. Hercules stared at the ground and walked off, feeling even more worthless than he ever did before.

"This can't be happening." Atticus said.

"Well, I gotta blaze," Hades said with a stretch. "There's whole cosmos waiting for me with my name on it," he then went off on his dark chariot with Pain and Panic. "So much for the preliminaries AND NOW OFF TO THE MAIN EVENT!" 

Meg felt incredibly guilty, she was starting to actually cry because this was all her fault.

"I-I've gotta go and find Cherry and save her." Atticus said.

"If I know Hades, she's probably in the Underworld..." Meg said to him.

Atticus gave her a glare. "Why should I believe anything you say?"

"Look, I know I've messed up, but I'm really sorry," Meg said to him, sounding sincere. "I didn't mean for any of this to happen."

"Then tell me how I can save Cherry please?" Atticus asked. "She's my friend, she's like a sister to me, I don't want to lose her."

"We need to get Phil back first, he needs to help Hercules, and we have to get the horse..." Meg said, though she seemed to be getting slowly weak.

"I know where Pegasus is, come on." Atticus led her.

Meg followed slowly, a little nervous of meeting Pegasus since the winged horse kind of hated her, even before she was revealed to be a traitor.

"Don't worry, I'm sure Pegasus will trust you as soon as we tell him everything." Atticus said.

Meg sighed a little as she followed him. Hades was releasing monsters to send them after Zeus so he could take over Mount Olympus. However, Hades sent a Cyclops after Hercules just to mess with him and possibly kill him.

"He's right behind this door." Atticus said. 

"You sure?" Meg asked.

"I am positive." Atticus said.

The two got to the door as Pegasus kept trying to free himself, but was unable to.

"Easy, Horse Feathers!" Meg tried to soothe the winged horse.

Pegasus glared at her, but looked soft to Atticus since he trusted the boy and not her.

"Listen, Pegasus, I know that you don't trust her, but you have to trust her now, because Hercules is in trouble and Cherry is in the Underworld," Atticus informed the winged horse. "And even though I do want to save Cherry first, we have to go and find Phil so then he can talk some sense into Hercules before he gets seriously hurt and you can talk to me, because I talk to animals."

Meg was surprised and touched by Atticus's words, though she had a serious fear of heights. Pegasus got them both on and flew off with them on his back to catch Phil before he would be gone forever.

"Now, Meg, in case you have a fear of heights, just close your eyes so then you don't look down!" Atticus informed her.

Meg tried to take his words into action, it was a little hard due to how fast Pegasus was going right now.

Phil was on his way on a boat out of town just as Meg, Pegasus, and Atticus arrived to stop him.

"Come on!" a sailor called. "Hurry up! We're shovin' off here!"

"Phil! Phil, Hercules needs your help!" Atticus called out to the satyr.

"What's he need me for when he's got friends like you?" Phil glared, still very angry about the argument he had with Hercules earlier.

"He won't listen to me!" Meg added in.

"Good, he's finally learned somethin'." Phil scoffed and continued to walk off to the boat out of Thebes.

Atticus, Meg, and Pegasus flew in front of the satyr to let him continue to listen to them. Phil still refused to listen.

"Look, I know what I did was wrong," Meg spit out. "But this isn't about me, it's about him and Cherry."

"What about Cherry?" Phil then asked.

"Maestro Forte's kidnapped her and if you dont' help Hercules now, they could both die." Atticus encouraged.

Phil's eyes widened in horror of that, not being able to let that stick with him, so he decided to join them to help Hercules win this battle against Hades.

"Alright, we'll have to fly back fast." Atticus said.

Pegasus nodded and flew them back to find Hercules as quickly as he could.


	12. Chapter 12

The people of Thebes were in more fear than they ever were before as the Cyclops was searching literally high and low for Hercules. But then, once they saw Hercules coming into the city, they thought that they were all now saved.

Meg rushed to Hercules to stop him with Atticus's help. "What're you doing?" she asked, very concerned about him. "Without your strength, you'll be killed!"

"There are worse things..." Hercules ignored her and continued to walk after the Cyclops.

"Wait, stop!" Atticus called after the demigod.

"Phil, you gotta stop him before he gets killed." Meg begged the satyr.

Phil rushed over and tried to encourage Hercules to give him confidence back even if he couldn't give strength back.

The Cyclops laughed as he flicked Hercules against a pillar which hurt very much.

"Come on, kid, fight back," Phil coached. "This guy's a pushover, look at him!" 

"You were right all along, Phil," Hercules said weakly. "Dreams are for rookies."

"No, no, no, no, no, no, kid, givin' up is for rookies," Phil insisted. "I came back 'cause I'm not quittin' on ya. I'm willing to go the distance. How 'bout you?"

"Hercules, try to outsmart the big guy." Atticus said.

Hercules looked around and tried to find a way to stop the Cyclops. The Cyclops then cornered Hercules and picked him up. On the way, Hercules grabbed a torch and shoved it against the Cyclops's face. The Cyclops groaned and dropped Hercules from the painful strategy.

"Wahoo!" Atticus cheered.

"WHOA, BABY!" Phil also cheered.

Hercules then rushed over to the Cyclops, completely motivated even if he wasn't strong as a god anymore, but started to tie the one-eyed monster up.

"Yes, tie up his legs/ankles together to make him trip!" Atticus cheered.

The Cyclops yelled out, struggling to get free and started to fall. The ground shook a little from the impact and a pillar was knocked loose and coming down by them.

"GUYS, LOOK OUT!" Meg yelled for Hercules and Atticus. She shoved them out of the way, but got crushed to death by the pillar instead. 

"MEG!" Hercules cried for the fallen girl. "NOOOO!"

"Oh, no! Meg!" Atticus cried out of shock.

Hercules knew he wasn't strong enough to, but he rushed over and tried to lift the pillar up. Atticus watched and tried to help, but as he did, something glowing was sent inside of Hercules. When Hercules lifted the pillar up, he felt strong again and was able to get the pillar off from Meg's body. 

"Hades's deal is broken..." Meg remarked weakly. "He promised I wouldn't get hurt..."

"Th-That's right." Atticus said, a little surprised that Meg had sacrificed herself.

"Meg, why did you have...?" Hercules was surprised by her friendly gesture.

"People always do crazy things when they're in love..." Meg panted with a small smile for him in particular.

"Oh... Meg..." Hercules was fearing for her life now.

"You haven't got much time..." Meg said to him. "You can still stop Hades and Maestro Forte..."

"I'll watch over her, kid." Phil volunteered.

"We'll be back, I promise." Hercules said to Meg.

"You're gonna be alright." Atticus added.

"Be careful." Phil told them.

Atticus and Hercules nodded, going onto the winged horse. "Let's go, Pegasus!"

Pegasus nodded and flew them to Mount Olympus.

"If they have hurt Cherry in anyway, I swear that they will pay." Atticus glared as they were making their way to Mount Olympus.

"You two seem close." Hercules remarked.

"We've been friends ever since we first met." Atticus said.

"How'd you guys first meet?" Hercules asked.

"At an orphanage way, way, way, way, way before I actually met my parents and my family." Atticus said.

"You were an orphan?" Hercules asked.

"It's a long story..." Atticus sighed a little. 

Pain and Panic had taken over Mount Olympus and enslaved the gods and goddesses while Hades was the new king.

"We have to save all of the gods and godesses by setting them free." Atticus said.

"I have a pretty good idea where Hades might be..." Hercules replied in determination.

Hades was sitting at Zeus's throne, soaking up all the glory and laughed as he sipped a wormy drink.

"I swear to you, Hades, when I get out of this!" Zeus started in anger as he was trapped.

"I'm the one giving orders now, Bolt Boy," Hades mocked. "And I think I'm gonna like it here!"

"Don't get too comfortable, Hades!" Atticus and Hercules yelled.

"Hercules!" the gods gasped.

"This oughta even the odds." Hercules said before destroying the chains on the gods and goddesses who were imprisoned in their own home.

"Hercules! Thank you, man." Hermes said, taking his sunglasses back from the demons and the hitting them.

"Get them!" Hades commanded.

Pyros actually hit Hades with his molten lava and missed Hercules and Atticus.

"No, get them, not me!" Hades snapped. "Them! Follow the fingers!"

Hydros tried to freeze Hercules and Atticus, but had frozen Hades instead by accident. 

"Those yutzes with the horse!" Hades demanded impatiently.

"Alright, Herc, time to free your dad." Atticus said.

"Couldn't agree even more!" Hercules nodded to him and opened the stone block his father was trapped in.

"Thank you, my boy." Zeus was very pleased.

Hercules and Atticus smiled back while Pegasus decided to deal with Pain and Panic.

"Yeah, go Pegasus, teach those two demons a lesson!" Atticus called out to the winged horse.

"Throw!" Zeus called to Hephaestus. He caught bolts from his fellow god and looked to Hercules with a chuckle. "Now watch your old man work!"

"Uh-oh..." Lythos did not like the look of this.

Zeus threw his bolts to electrocute Lythos and dispose of him. 

"Guys, get your titanic rears and gears and kick some Olympian butt!" Hades demanded.

Atticus rode on Pegasus, wanting to really mess with Hades a bit as they both blew out the fire on top of the Lord of the Dead's head.

Hades barked more orders, but stopped once he grabbed the top of his head. "Whoa, is my hair out?"

Hercules grabbed the titans and sent them on a one way ticket clear out of Mount Olympus. Zeus high-fived his son and laughed in victory with him.

"Wahoo! Hercules, you did it! You defeated the titans!" Atticus cheered.

"Thanks a ton, Wonder Boy and his new sidekick!" Hades called as he left on his chariot. "But at least I've got one swell consolation prize, some friends of yours who's dying to see me!"

Hercules and Atticus were about to go after him, but remembered something. "The girls!"

In the Underworld, the three fates who saw the past, present, and the future, known as Lachesis, Clotho, and Atropos, were taking out a couple of threads to cut with their scissors. 

Forte came to Cherry as she was tied to a chair. "Say goodbye forever, Cerise..." he put one hand on her shoulder and raised his blade with another about to strike her down.

Cherry flinched and looked away from him as tears streamed out her eyes.

Forte actually frowned, lowering his hand, he then shook his head and glared as he tried again. "You're mine!" he was about to strike her, but found he couldn't do it.

"Just do it already!" Cherry told him, miserably impatient.

Forte tried to do it, he really did, but for some reason, he just couldn't kill her. Cherry shut her eyes, but had one open. Forte made sure The Fates weren't watching and he untied her from the chair.

"Forte, what're you--" Cherry was about to ask.

"Run..." Forte whispered to her right into her ear. "Just run and don't pay attention to anything... Run for your life."

"Why are you doing this?" Cherry whispered back to him.

"Just run!" Forte urged her.

Cherry looked to him and started to run away from him.

"Just run, run and don't turn back." Forte whispered.

Cherry didn't know what to do, but she knew that this was her opportunity to run and get away. She was very curious why he was letting her go, but she didn't question it anymore and continued on until she would find a way out.

Forte sighed, rubbing his hands together. "She's all grown up..." he then whispered as Cherry had found a way to escape and continue living her life, even if it would mean consequences on his. And where the Fates were going to be very angry with him for letting Cherry go.

Forte looked back to see they were very indeed angry with him. The Fates took out one thread and cut it.

"That wasn't Cerise's, was it?" Forte asked.

"Why do you care?" Lachesis sneered to him.

"It was that Megara girl's anyway!" Clotho laughed as they took out another thread. "I wonder how Cherry would feel to find out all of her friends died before she would!"

"You wouldn't dare!" Forte glared at the three.

"Try us." Atropos grinned evilly.

Forte actually looked concerned, he felt protective of Cherry all of a sudden, but he had no idea why or how. 

Hercules and Atticus came as Phil held Meg's hand, but it became lifeless. She was now dead. Phil had tears in his eyes and shook his head to them to show that Meg didn't make it.

"No...." Atticus said out of sadness.

"No..." Hercules was more devastated. 

"I'm sorry, kid," Phil tried to comfort him. "There's some things you just can't change."

Hercules started to break down crying, he then had an idea which made him feel determined then. "Yes, I can."

"I'm coming with you." Atticus said to the demigod.

"Might be dangerous..." Hercules said to him.

"I don't care, we have to get Meg and Cherry back and whatever happens, I'm willing to go through it." Atticus insisted.

"All right, stay close to me." Hercules warned since Atticus didn't have powers like he did.

Atticus nodded and followed as quickly as he could.

Cherry made it out of wherever she came from and was running for her life now. The Fates saw this and took out her thread about to cut it.

"NO!" Forte demanded.

The Fates ignored him and they cut it anyway. And where this made Cherry stop breathing and moving, telling you that she was dead now. She fell to the ground and her eyes slowly shut.

Cherry's soul then left her body and it looked just as bleak and depressed as she was in life. "Well, this sucks..." she muttered.

"Wow, she is not a pleasant one, I think she'll fit right in." Clotho said.


	13. Chapter 13

In the Underworld, Hades was throwing a temper tantrum over losing the battle over Mount Olympus. And where this, of course, scared Pain and Panic as they tried to avoid the flames of the tantrum.

"WE WERE SO CLOSE!" Hades snapped. "So close, we tripped the finish line! Why? Because our little Nutmeg had to go all noble!"

The ground shook slightly and Hades's three-headed dog demon broke through the ground with Hercules on top and Atticus was staying by him for security. 

"WHERE'S MEG AND CHERRY!?" Hercules demanded.

"YEAH!" Atticus added in.

"Look who's here, Wonder Boy and his sidekick..." Hades commented. 

"Let them go!" Hercules demanded.

"Get a grip..." Hades told them.

"Step down, release the girls, or FIGHT!" Atticus snapped.

"Okay, okay, listen, how about you two just follow me and I'll show you where they are?" Hades asked.

Hercules and Atticus glared at him, but they followed anyway.

Hades took them to the River Styx where all the souls were left to wander for all eternity. "Well, well, it's a small Underworld after all..." he laughed a little at his inside joke.

Atticus and Hercules looked down into the river to find the girls' souls. When they put their hands in, their hands suddenly looked like they were old and weary.

"No, no, no, mustn't touch," Hades told them. "You see, the girls are running with a new crowd these days and not a very lively one at that."

"Hmm, you like making deals, let me take their place." Hercules said to the Lord of the Dead.

Atticus saw where this was going and agreed. "Take us in their place." he then added.

"Oh, well," Hades chuckled sheepishly. "The son and new mortal acquaintance of my hated rival trapped forever in a river of death."

"Going once!" Hercules called.

"Hmm... Is there a downside to this?" Hades tried to think about it.

"Going twice!" Hercules then called.

"Okay, okay, okay, okay, okay," Hades gave in. "You guys get them out, they go, you stay."

Hercules and Atticus nodded and dived into the river.

"Oh, you know what slipped my mind!?" Hades called in mockery. "You'll be dead before you can get to them! That's not a problem, is it?"

'Don't worry, girls, we're coming, we're not going to let you both go.' Atticus thought to himself.

Hercules and Atticus were turning older and older as they came for the girls' souls.

Atropos was set to cut their threads, but was unable to cut them for some reason and struggled. 

"What's the matter with these scissors!?" Lachesis snapped.

"The threads won't cut!" Clotho added.

The Fates sent a look to Forte who was just standing there, minding his own business.

"What? I didn't do anything." Forte defended himself.

The Fates didn't believe him, but he honestly had not done anything.

Hercules lifted his hand up and he was slowly glowing and returning to normal. Somehow, Atticus was also survived and they both climbed out of the River Styx with the souls they were looking for.

"This is... This is impossible!" Hades couldn't believe what he was seeing. "Y-Y-You can't believe, especially the mortal boy! You'd have to be a! A!"

"A god!?" Pain and Panic concluded in equal surprise.

"Guys, stop!" Hades tried to stand in front of Hercules and Atticus. "You can't do this to me, you can't--"

Hercules punched him in the face, leaving it swollen as Atticus just jumped and elbowed the Lord of the Dead. 

Hades restored himself back to normal. "Fine, okay, listen," he continued on with slight rambling. "Ha! Okay, well, I deserved that, Herc, Herc, Herc, Atticus. Can we talk? Y-Your dad, he's a fun guy, right? So maybe you guys could put in a word with him and he'd kinda blow this whole thing off, you know? Meg, Cherry, talk to them, a little schmooze--"

Hercules hit Hades stronger and made him fall into the river with the souls he had trapped decided to have a little revenge on him.

"Ew, get away from me!" Hades tried to push them off, but they proved to be stronger than him. "Don't touch me, get your slimy souls off me!"

"He's not gonna be happy when he gets outta there..." Panic worried.

"You mean if he gets out of there." Pain smirked to him.

"If..." Panic nodded to him as they watched. "If is good."

"Come on, Herc, let's go and get their souls back where they belong, in their bodies." Atticus said.

Hercules nodded in firm agreement. Hades had disappeared within the river and was not going to be heard from again in a very long time.

While they left, Forte appeared from behind one wall, but not seen by them. "Thank you, Atticus..." he whispered as he saw the boy had collected Cherry's soul.

Atticus then stopped, having a feeling someone else was there. "Where is her body, Forte?" he asked.

This shocked Forte, surprised that Atticus somehow knew that he was there. The court composer came out, holding his hands together. "I'm afraid Cerise is lost in the middle of nowhere," he gravely informed. "She was with myself and the Fates and I let her go."

"Why?" Atticus wanted to know why Forte let go of Cherry when he hated her.

"That's not important, just go and bring her back..." Forte rushed him.

"I will, I promise." Atticus said before going off to save Cherry.

Forte nodded to him and let him go. He then sighed as he went away himself.

Atticus was really curious of Forte's motivations, but he found Cherry just as Hercules found Meg and both of them placed the souls of the girls they were close to back into their nonliving bodies. Both Cherry and Meg gasped for air, telling them that the girls were alive.

"Cherry..." Atticus looked to her. "How do you feel?"

"I was expecting fire and brimstone, but thanks..." Cherry said to him, wearily. "Thanks for saving my life..."

"You're like a sister to me, I wasn't going to let you die." Atticus said.

"Shame on you..." Cherry muttered.

"You know, some people say 'thank you'..." Atticus slightly narrowed his eyes to her.

"I just did..." Cherry glanced to him in return. 

Hercules and Meg were reunited themselves and gave each other a sweet kiss in thanks to each other.

"Well, seems like they are both deeply in love." Atticus smiled.

"Hooray..." Cherry rolled her eyes.

A cloud appeared under their feet and was moving them up in the air.

"High... High... HIGH!!!" Cherry yelped a little.

Pegasus saw where the cloud was going and brought Phil with him as they were going to Mount Olympus.

"If you don't want to look, then close your eyes." Atticus suggested to her.

It was too late, they were already in Mount Olympus.

Mount Olympus was restored and the gods and goddesses cheered for their heroes.

"Three cheers for the mighty Hercules and Atticus!" Aureus cheered.

"Oh, yeah, flowers for everybody!" Hermes added.

"Boys, we're so proud of you." Hera said to her son and mortal friend.

"Mother." Hercules smiled once he finally was able to meet his biological mother.

"Hello, Hera..." Atticus greeted, giving her a small bow.

"Fine work, boys!" Zeus praised. "You've done it, you're both true heroes."

"You were both willing to risk your lives to save these young ladies." Hera added about Cherry and Meg.

"For a true hero isn't measured by the size of his strength, but by the strength of his heart," Zeus praised. "Now, at last, my son, you can come home and Atticus, you shall be given your reward."

The gates of Olympus opened up for them as the gods and goddesses congratulated them.

"Thank you, sir." Atticus said with a bow.

"You too of course, Cherry." Zeus said to the mortal girl.

Cherry shrugged and nodded.

Meg smiled for them and was about to leave. "Congratulations, Wonder Boy, you're one heck of a god and your friends are good ones..."

Hercules smiled, but he turned to see Meg leaving and he frowned. "Father," he looked back to Zeus. "This is the moment I've always dreamed, but... A life without Meg, even an immortal life would be empty..." he took his girl's hand. "I-I wish to stay on Earth with her... I finally know where we belong."

"This place is good and all, but we do belong on Earth." Cherry added in

"Yeah, we really do." Atticus said.

Zeus nodded and granted their wishes.

Hercules and Meg smiled to each other as they had another kiss and were going to live happily ever after together.

"Now, for your rewards," Zeus told the two mortal children. "Atticus, for your strong heart and bravery that could only match a god like myself... I bless you with the gift of god-like strength..." he told the boy and gently zapped him to give him the super strength he had always wanted. 

"Wow, thank you, Zeus." Atticus said happily.

Zeus smiled.

"What kind of reward could I have?" Cherry rolled her eyes slightly. "I didn't do anything..."

"You put others before yourself..." Zeus reminded her.

"I did?" Cherry asked, a little shocked. 

"Yep, you did." Atticus nodded.

Cherry shrugged. "Whatever..."

"This proves that there's more to you than meets the eye..." Zeus said. "I give you the gift of literature so you can become an excellent writer like you want."

"Lame..." Cherry folded her arms, but accepted it anyway.

Zeus gently zapped her and gave her restored power.

Cherry blinked rapidly. "I feel more inspired..." she then took out a random notebook and wrote a poem to celebrate herself.

"Hit it, ladies!" Hermes called to the Muses. 

The Muses started to sing to celebrate. Phil even got to have a good time by Aphrodite giving him a sweet kiss and on the lips! In the constellations, Hercules, Cherry, and Atticus were given stars.

"That's Phil's boy!" one man pointed which made the satyr cry tears of joy.

After the celebration there was a bright light which nearly blinded Cherry and Atticus.


	14. Chapter 14

"Miss Butler, Mr. Fudo," a boring voice returned and came in between them as they were in the Greek mythology museum exhibit. "Wake up, the museum's not that boring! We're waiting for you in the gift shop."

Cherry and Atticus rubbed their eyes and looked around.

"Did we fall asleep?" Cherry wondered. 

"I-I think so? But why do my muscles and strength feel different?" Atticus asked.

Cherry merely shrugged, she then got up and walked with him out of the exhibit, rubbing one of her eyes. "I have no idea..." She then looked to see she was holding a notebook and a pencil was on her ear. "I don't remembering bringing in a notebook with me..."

"At least we're not being bored to death anymore..." Atticus shrugged.

"Yeah, I guess you're right..." Cherry shrugged in return.

As they walked off, there came a shadowed figure watching them, his eyes flashed green and was revealed to be Forte and he was keeping his distance from them and disappeared into the darkness.

The End


End file.
